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Bush, Brewers sweep Nationals

Aug 11, 2008 - 10:49 PM By J.R. Radcliffe PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers are doing their best to turn Prince Fielder's notorious shove into a "playoff push."

Dave Bush turned in his second straight stellar outing Monday as the Brewers completed a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 7-1 victory.

One week after cameras caught Fielder tussling with teammate Manny Parra in a Cincinnati dugout, the Brewers have yet to lose, extending their winning streak to six games Monday. They pulled within 3 1/2 games of idle Chicago in the National League Central Division.

Bush (7-9) surrendered a first-inning run and nothing else over 6 1/3 innings and Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart each homered in support of the latest strong outing from a Brewers starter. The rotation is 7-2 record with a 1.98 ERA in the last 10 games.

In the series against Washington, Milwaukee starters posted an ERA of 0.57, allowed two runs in 31 1/3 innings.

"We're just trying to follow the guy before us," Bush said. "We've got two guys at the top of the rotation (CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets) who are doing a really good job, so when the rest of us come up, we try to pick up our end of the bargain."

After allowing one run on three hits in seven innings during his last outing, Bush surrendered an RBI single to Ryan Zimmerman in the opening frame Monday. But the Brewers, who entered Monday's game with a 3.94 team ERA -- third-best in the National League -- posted an immediate response on Weeks' leadoff home run and took control from there.

"Rickie's home run in the first inning, just to even it back up, takes a little pressure off," Bush said.

One night after Gabe Kapler delivered a walk-off home run in the 13th inning, Weeks' blow marked the first time since 1991 that the Brewers had gone from a walk-off homer to leadoff homer in back-to-back games.

Hart, who only homered twice in July, hit his second home run of the series in the fourth, a two-run shot against Nationals starter Garrett Mock (0-3).

"That guy owes me a steak or something because I've thrown him more cookies than anybody I've ever thrown (to)," Mock said. "He capitalized on it. The first game when I came out of the 'pen (Friday), he almost did some serious damage. He also smoked one to right (today) that he just missed. You can get him out the same as anybody, but I have to make pitches to that guy."

Mock (0-3) struck out a career-best nine, but left the game in the fifth after permitting Fielder's RBI single that gave the Brewers a 4-1 lead. The righthander allowed four runs, five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.

"I didn't get a ground-ball out, and that's what my strength has been the entire year," Mock said. "After a game like yesterday, my job was to get past the fifth inning at the very least. I felt good, but I wouldn't say I pitched that great."

Bush scattered five hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

The Nationals wasted a golden chance in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with no outs but failed to score. Bush plunked a bunting Mock with a 1-2 pitch to put a runner at every station, but Willie Harris hit a weak grounder in front of the plate and catcher Jason Kendall had an easy force at home. Bush then escaped the jam by striking out Pete Orr and getting Ryan Zimmerman to ground out.

"When you have the top of the order coming up, with the bases loaded, you take a step back and take it one pitch at a time," Bush said. "There is a tendency to try and get three outs with one pitch. I was fortunate to get out of it."

Bush completed a series that opened with back-to-back complete-game shutouts from Sabathia and Sheets.

"CC and Sheets, being able to throw those complete games and give up nothing, was a big step for us," Hart said. "You're trying to win a series at all costs, and all of a sudden you look up and they pretty much dominated the first two games. Bushy pitched well and Manny pitched well.

The Brewers (68-51) moved 17 games over .500 for the first time since 1992. They have won all three series since getting swept by the Chicago Cubs in a four-game series at Miller Park.

"There was so much focus on (the Cubs series), but for us, it was just one series," Hart said. "There were so many games left. We didn't play as well as we wanted to, but what we've done after that has been so much more important."