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Braun leads Giants over Brewers; Bonds sits out

Jul 22, 2007 - 10:08 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds sat out for the San Francisco Giants. The Milwaukee Brewers are glad Ryan Braun did not.

Braun had two hits and three RBI and Corey Hart knocked in two runs as the Brewers scored four times in the first inning en route to a 7-5 victory over the Giants in the finale of a three-game set on Sunday.

J.J. Hardy also drove in two runs for Milwaukee, which picked up its sixth win in its last nine contests, avoiding a three-game sweep against lowly San Francisco (41-55).

Milwaukee was able to secure the victory against a club playing without Bonds, who was out of the starting lineup again after missing three contests against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field earlier this week.

He went 0-for-6 in the first two games of this series and remains two homers shy of Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755. Bonds declined to speak to the media after Sunday's game.

Braun's 15th homer of the season came in the first-inning uprising. He became the fastest player in team history to reach the 15-homer plateau, doing it in just 50 games to make himself one of the frontrunners for the National League Rookie of the Year.

"I don't feel like I'm the 'guy' at all, we're all contributing," Braun said. "We haven't played as well as we would've liked to the last couple days, so it was nice to tack a couple on early and go on to get the win."

After the Brewers mustered four total runs in the first two games of the series, manager Ned Yost shuffled his lineup. Rickie Weeks was inserted back into the leadoff spot and Hart moved to the sixth position.

"There's no foresight in any of this stuff, you try this stuff, it works or it doesn't work," Yost said. "It's just baseball, there's no scientific things to it, you try to put the players in a position where they can succeed."

The move appeared to pay dividends for both players early as Weeks led off the game with a double, and Hart blasted a homer to left field off Giants starter Barry Zito (7-10).

Brewers starter Claudio Vargas (8-2) chalked up his sixth home victory of the season. The righthander is 8-0 with a 3.69 ERA in 13 career appearances at Miller Park.

"We got a little breathing room, Brauny got us the two-run lead and then Corey comes up and gives us a four-run lead, and Claudio's been pretty good in this park with a lead," Yost said.

On Sunday, he allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, while striking out four and walking one. Three relievers tossed the final three frames, including Francisco Cordero, who recorded his 31st save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

"I don't know, I'm lucky here and I've pitched good here," Vargas said of his success at Miller Park. "I was able to locate my pitches and throw well, just have to keep trying to play like we did today."

After giving up four runs and a pair of homers in the first, Zito seemed to settle down until loading the bases in the sixth.

"I was trying to hold them down but a couple of base hits was the difference in the sixth," Zito said.

Vinnie Chulk came in to try and get out of the one-out, bases-loaded jam. After getting Weeks to pop out shortstop, Hardy and Braun had back-to-back singles to clear the bases and extend the lead to 7-3.

Zito yielded seven runs and eight hits, while striking out four and walking two in 5 1/3 frames.

Pedro Feliz extended his career-high hitting streak to 10 games and Dave Roberts had two hits and an RBI for the Giants.