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Bush, Brewers tame Braves

Jun 25, 2008 - 4:52 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Some shoddy defense by the Atlanta Braves helped Dave Bush solve his road woes.

Bush hurled seven solid frames and Salomon Torres overcame a shaky ninth to record his career-best 13th save to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 win over the struggling Braves on Tuesday.

J.J. Hardy had two hits and drove in a run and Jason Kendall scored twice for the red-hot Brewers, who have won 15 of 21 games in June.

"We've been playing really, really good, aggressive baseball (and have been) taking advantage of (errors)," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "I'll take a lead and see if we can protect it."

It had been a tale of two seasons for the 28-year-old Bush (4-7), who has been good at home but pedestrian away from Miller Park this season. The righthander, who sported a 3-2 record with a 3.18 ERA in seven starts at home, was a miserable 0-5 with an 8.11 ERA in 11 appearances - 10 starts - on the road this season.

Something finally changed on Tuesday.

Bush, who found something in his last start when he took a no-hitter into the eighth before allowing one run on two hits against Toronto, was dominant once again in this one.

Building on Ben Sheets' complete-game four-hitter on Monday, Bush surrendered one run and four hits while walking one and striking out five to notch his first road victory since August 21, 2007, at Arizona.

"Some things are falling into place right now," Bush said. "I'll keep working on some things. ... I'm trying to be consistent."

Bush and the Brewers could give an assist to Atlanta's shoddy defense, which committed a season-high four errors, including three in the first.

Yunel Escobar set the tone of the game in the first when he could not cleanly field leadoff hitter Rickie Weeks' grounder. Hardy followed with a single off Atlanta starter Charlie Morton (1-1) before Ryan Braun plated Weeks with a single.

In an attempt to gun down Weeks at the plate, Atlanta right fielder Jeff Francoeur overran the ball in right field, allowing Hardy to advance to third. One out later, Hart plated Hardy on a fielder's choice to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.

Francoeur also committed another error in the frame when his throw from right field skipped past Escobar, allowing Russell Branyan to advance to second. The pair of defensive miscues snapped a team-high 77-game errorless streak this season by the 2007 Gold Glove Award winner.

The Brewers tacked on an insurance run thanks to another defensive lapse in the second when Kendall scored on a double by Hardy. Rookie Brandon Jones took a few steps in on the Hardy's liner to left field before the ball landed over his head.

"The offense gave me some runs to work with," Bush said. "That's always nice."

Milwaukee added a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Weeks before Atlanta cut the lead to 4-1 on Brian McCann's RBI groundout in the sixth and then made things interesting in the ninth.

Torres, who surrendered just one run in 14 2/3 frames since being installed as the Brewers' closer entering Tuesday, issued a free pass to Kelly Johnson to start the frame before Mark Teixeira closed the deficit to 4-3 with a two-run blast into the right field bleachers.

McCann followed with a single before he was lifted for pinch runner Jair Jurrjens, who advanced to second on Omar Infante's sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout by Francoeur. Jones drew an intentional pass to put the winning run at first base.

But Torres closed the door, inducing light-hitting pinch hitter Corky Miller to line out to short with the tying run 90 feet away to shut the door.

"I've never saved more than 12 games in a year," Torres said. "I don't know if that played in the back of my mind. I was too anxious the first two hitters. Teixeira beat me. After that I was able to concentrate. ... I was able to be the Salomon you all know and love."

Atlanta's defense wasted what was a solid home debut for Morton. The 24-year-old rookie allowed four runs - two earned - and seven hits, walked one and struck out four en route to notching his first major league loss.

"Too many errors," Cox said. "Morton deserved a lot better. He pitched a fine ballgame. When he left, it should have been 1-0. ... We didn't give up. We played like crap the first two innings. The guys are doing whatever they can to win a ballgame."

Yunel Escobar was ejected by first base umpire Eric Cooper for throwing his helmet to the ground after being doubled off first base on a liner to Prince Fielder in the bottom of the fourth.

Infante, who replaced Escobar at shortstop, collected Atlanta's fourth in the top of the fifth. The four defensive miscues were the most allowed by the Braves since June 2, 2004, vs. Montreal.

"We didn't give up," Teixeira said. "But we played awful."

Chipper Jones, who has not started in Atlanta's last four contests due to a right quadriceps injury, smashed a base hit in a pinch-hit appearance in the eighth to raise his league-leading average to .395.