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Campillo, Braves blank Brewers

Aug 4, 2008 - 12:01 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Jorge Campillo continued his remarkable season in an otherwise unremarkable year for the Atlanta Braves.

Campillo hurled seven outstanding innings Sunday afternoon as the Braves salvaged the finale of a three-game series by blanking the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-0.

Yunel Escobar plated two runs while Gregor Blanco and Kelly Johnson had two hits each for struggling Atlanta, which won for just the second time in eight games.

The 2008 season has not been kind to the Braves, who have been or will be without four of their top five projected starters for a good portion of the year.

Staff ace John Smoltz had season-ending shoulder surgery in June and Tim Hudson will have "Tommy John" surgery on Friday. Mike Hampton missed most of the season recovering from his own surgery, and Tom Glavine has been sidelined since June with an arm injury.

The only consistent and healthy starters this season have been Campillo (6-4), a former Mexican league player, and rookie Jair Jurrjens, who the Braves acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the offseason.

As a result, a new saying is swirling through the Braves' press box from the same franchise that made famous the saying, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" some 60 years ago - "Campillo and Jurrjens and call in the surgeons."

Fortunately for Atlanta, Campillo started on Sunday.

"Campillo has been a stud for us," Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. "What he's done is awesome."

The righthander once again was dominant, scattering six hits while striking out six without a walk.?? Campillo, who hurled 68 of 101 pitches for strikes, got the big outs when he needed to.

"I came in here for one (thing)," Campillo said. "I wanted to be a starting pitcher. I don't know if I'm No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 5. I want to try to help my team win."

"I can't say enough about him," Braves manager Bobby Cox added. "He's been outstanding. If we could find a guy like that every year, we'd be doing something."

Prince Fielder, who smacked three homers in the first two games of this series, laced a one-out double in the fourth.?? But Campillo retired Corey Hart on a groundout and struck out Russell Branyan to end the threat.

The Brewers had runners at second and third with one out in the seventh thanks to back-to-back singles by Branyan and Gabe Kapler and Campillo's throwing error.

But Campillo slammed the door shut once again, striking out Jason Kendall before punching out pinch hitter Rickie Weeks with a filthy cutter to stymie Milwaukee's rally.

"It's huge to have guys that go out there and do what he's been doing," Francoeur said. "He's been dominant. It takes a lot to throw a front-door cutter to (Weeks)."

Brewers manager Ned Yost shared the sentiment about the Atlanta righthander that is starting to be echoed throughout the major leagues each time Campillo takes the mound.

"We don't like facing that guy," Yost said. "I don't know who ever touches him. He's pitched well against a lot of clubs."

But the news wasn't all positive in the snake-bitten Atlanta clubhouse, as the Braves could not keep the doctors away on Sunday.

Rafael Soriano became the latest Atlanta pitching casualty and was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right elbow after the contest. Atlanta purchased the contract of Francisley Bueno from Class AAA Richmond.

"It's hard," Campillo said. "We have a lot of injuries. We need to try to start winning again."

It was another losing outing for Milwaukee's Ben Sheets (10-5), who has not won since the Brewers traded for CC Sabathia in early July.?? The All-Star righthander, who has won just once in seven starts since his complete game victory here on June 24, allowed three runs - two earned - and six hits, walked three and struck out four over six frames.

"The start was rough, but I settled in there and kept it close," Sheets said. "I felt like I've been kind of struggling lately. (But) when someone pitches like (Campillo), you're not going to win the game anyway."

Sheets lost for the first time to the Braves since August 12, 2004. The Brewers halted their franchise record-tying road winning streak at nine games.

Atlanta got to Sheets in the first, forcing the righthander to throw 36 pitches on a day that the temperature sweltered into the mid-90s at Turner Field.

Blanco set the tone by drawing an 11-pitch walk before advancing to second on a bunt by Escobar. Mark Kotsay plated Blanco with a double on the ninth-pitch of his at-bat before Omar Infante capped the frame with a run-scoring double.

Atlanta extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Campillo scored on Escobar's groundout.?? Escobar plated a run in the seventh before Francoeur added to Atlanta's lead with an RBI single in the eighth.