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Brewers again blank Braves

Jun 23, 2013 - 12:00 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Aramis Ramirez and Juan Francisco each drove in one run and Donovan Hand tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings in his first career major league start as the Milwaukee Brewers blanked the Atlanta Braves, 2-0, for the second time in as many days in this three-game set at Miller Park.

Ramirez, who finished 3-for-4 with a run scored, needs just one hit for 2,000 in his career. Hand allowed just two hits and struck out three while Burke Badenhop (1-3) earned the win after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless frames in relief.

Francisco Rodriguez worked around a one-out single in the ninth to notch his 300th career save and sixth of the season.

"For them to come out swinging so much," Hand said of the Brewers' offensive support. "We didn't have to throw a lot of pitches and I didn't have to throw everything."

The struggles continued for Atlanta starter Tim Hudson (4-7), who is 0-6 over his last nine outings while receiving just 10 runs of support. He lasted six frames and yielded both runs on seven hits and four walks in defeat.

"You've just got to keep grinding things out," Hudson said. "That's baseball. Unfortunately, you're going to lose games like that. I felt fine. Unfortunately you don't think you would lose a game on a couple of hits like that. I feel confident in this team."

The Braves, losers in five of six, have also dropped a season-high five straight on the road, where they are 11-22 since April 19.

B.J. Upton and Andrelton Simmons each collected two hits to account for the Atlanta's total of four on the afternoon.

Milwaukee broke through versus Hudson in the fourth as Ramirez reached first with a out-out infield single and Jonathan Lucroy followed with another single. Juan Francisco's RBI hit to left then made it 1-0.

Hudson later intentionally walked Logan Schafer to load the bases, but escaped further damage by forcing Hand to groundout to second.

Hudson again labored in the early part of the inning in the fifth, issuing a lead off walk to Norichika Aoki and allowing Jean Segura to single behind him. After Carlos Gomez popped out, Ramirez smacked a single to left, scoring Aoki to extend the Brewers' lead to 2-0.

That's all the Brewers needed, as Atlanta's offensive inconsistency continued yet again and the team was shut out for a major league-high 11th time this season.

"It feels great," Rodriguez said of reaching 300 saves. "You have know idea how happy and excited I am. Nice milestone to be playing for 17 years. I hope to stay healthy many years to come. A lot of people thought that I was done."

Game Notes

Hudson's last win came on May 5. The righty owns a 4-5 record over 11 career starts against the Brewers ... The Braves have lost eight straight road games in Milwaukee ... Hudson's last longest winless streak (eight starts) came from May 4-June 9, 2002 ... Rodriguez became just the 25th player in MLB history to notch 300 career saves.