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Brewers pound Astros to cap sweep

Aug 1, 2012 - 10:52 PM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Ryan Braun homered and drove in three on Wednesday, as the Brewers crushed the Astros, 13-4, to complete a three-game sweep.

Braun knocked in a pair during a six-run fifth inning, then belted his 29th homer of the season in the sixth.

Rickie Weeks and Cesar Izturis both homered during the fifth, while Jonathan Lucroy later added a two-run blast for the Brewers, who had lost nine of 10 games entering this series.

"We've been really frustrated," said Braun. "A lot of games have been demoralizing. We've had a lot of difficult games with the way we lost them, but our confidence is still there."

Mike Fiers (5-4) earned the win, allowing two runs on eight hits over six-plus innings. He did not issue a walk and struck out six en route to his eighth straight quality start.

Brett Wallace recorded the first multi-homer game of his career, belting a solo shot and a two-run bomb for the Astros, who had more errors (four) over the first four innings on Wednesday than they had wins in the month of July (three).

Jordan Lyles (2-8) lasted five innings and allowed nine runs -- seven earned -- on nine hits in the loss.

Third baseman Scott Moore made two of those errors in the first inning, misplaying a pair of ground balls. The initial gaffe allowed leadoff batter Nyjer Morgan to reach base. After a steal, a walk and a groundout, Moore's second error permitted Morgan to score from third.

"We gave a good hitting team five outs," said Astros manager Brad Mills. "You can't do that."

Jose Altuve tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the third, but his throwing error helped the Brewers go on top an inning later.

Wallace crushed a leadoff homer in the fourth for a 2-1 lead, but with the bases loaded and two down in the bottom half, Altuve fielded Izturis' grounder up the middle and attempted to flip the ball to second base with his glove. Instead, the toss went wide and rolled onto the infield grass as two runs crossed the plate.

Izturis was credited with a single and an RBI on the play, while Altuve's throwing error resulted in a 3-2 Milwaukee lead.

An inning later, Braun's two-run single up the middle opened the floodgates. Corey Hart followed with an RBI double before Weeks blasted a two-run homer to right-center field.

Izturis capped the frame with a two-out solo shot and also doubled and scored on Morgan's seventh-inning single.

Lucroy hit his sixth homer of the season earlier in the seventh, scoring Weeks, while Wallace went deep again in the eighth.

Game Notes

Fiers has nine quality starts on the season...Lyles has lost four straight decisions...The Astros went 3-24 in July. On the season, they are 10-44 on the road, compared to 25-27 at home.