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James shines as Braves extend Brewers' skid

May 29, 2007 - 3:34 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Chuck James spoiled the home debut of Ryan Braun.

James worked six impressive innings and Andruw Jones homered as the Atlanta Braves posted a 2-1 victory over the struggling Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.

The game marked the Miller Park debut of the 23-year-old Braun, a highly touted third base prospect who was recalled from the minors Friday. The youngster went 4-for-11 with a homer and three RBI in three games over the weekend at San Diego.

But Braun had a hard time putting the bat on the ball, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Two of the strikeouts came against James, with the other coming against the hard-throwing Rafael Soriano.

"Obviously I had some opportunities and didn't come through today. But it was a lot of fun playing my first thome game here and I'm looking forward to contributing to a lot of wins in the future," Braun said. "I think I was definitely trying too hard today and came out of my approach a little bit and swung at some pitches I shouldn't have swung at. My strength this year has been my plate discipline and I think I was trying a little bit too hard today."

James (5-4) won for the first time in his last three starts after allowing one run and five hits. The lefthander walked two, struck out eight and departed after throwing 66 of 93 pitches for strikes.

"It's definitely huge for me." James said. "I've been struggling a little bit with mechanics. This was the first day I felt like I could just throw the ball and I knew I could throw strikes. I was just trying to make the best pitches I could.

"I was throwing across my body real bad and we tried to straighten that out my last side session. I went out there today and tried to be more fundamentally sound and it worked out. I think I got a lot more deception when I'm more in line with home plate."

Tyler Yates and Soriano bridged the gap to closer Bob Wickman, who worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Thanks to his club's offense failing to come up with the big hit, Brewers starter Chris Capuano (5-4) endured his fourth straight loss. The lefthander went seven innings, allowing two runs and seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

"For the most part he was on the attack, making pitches that he wanted to make, and he got us through a big seventh inning and kept the score 2-1," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said of Capuano.

In losing their season-high sixth straight game, the Brewers stranded six baserunners in scoring position and eight overall.

Trailing 2-1, the Brewers had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh. But J.J. Hardy lined out to first before Soriano came on to strike out Braun to end the threat.

In the top of the seventh, the Braves squandered a chance to break open the game when they failed to score after loading the bases with none out.

Jones, who has struggled this season, hit his eighth homer of the campaign with two out in the fourth to open the scoring.

"Last homestand, I really worked on my balance," Jones said. "It's only a couple days, and I'm still working on my balance and everything will be fine. You just wait for guys to make mistakes like they did today and take advantage of them."

The Braves added to the lead in the fifth on Kelly Johnson's two-out, run-scoring single. His base hit came a batter after James had single to keep alive the inning.

An emerging player at second base, Johnson has hit safely in six of his last nine games.

James' lone miscue came to start the bottom of the sixth when Prince Fielder crushed a shot over the right-center field wall for his National League-leading 16th homer.

Corey Hart added two hits for the Brewers, who have lost 12 of their last 16 games. Despite their National League-best 17-7 home mark, Milwaukee could not rebound in its home park.

"Obviously every team goes through slumps from time to time and I guess it's our time," Milwaukee center fielder Bill Hall said. "What you've got to do is just keep playing hard and keep swinging the bats. I think everybody's still full of confidence. We're still in first place. There's no reason in panicking."