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Gallardo leads Brewers past Phillies, back into first

Aug 4, 2007 - 4:43 AM By Nick Berenz PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) - A pair of rookies helped lead the Brewers back into first place with a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo (4-1) was dominant, retiring 14 straight Phillies at one point, and July's Rookie and Player of the Month, Ryan Braun, continued his hot ways with two hits and one RBI.

The Milwaukee Brewers entered Friday as a team that was fighting mad with each other, but they ended the night as a team that had fought its way back into first place.

"I think we were able to iron some things out and it got the players fired up a little bit," Prince Fielder said. "We had a little bit of that aggressiveness tonight that we were playing with in the beginning of the season and then kind of lost it a little bit."

One night after a dugout confrontation between Brewers manager Ned Yost and catcher Johnny Estrada, it was the rookie Gallardo who helped right the ship. The righthander went 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out seven en route to his fourth victory of the year.

"I went out there in that first inning and felt like I was rushing my delivery a little bit," Gallardo said. "After that I was able to command the ball in and out, I felt pretty good tonight."

Brewers manager Ned Yost continued to pour praise on the Brewers top pitching prospect who topped Class AAA with 110 strikeouts before debuting with the Brewers on June 18.

"He's a real polished pitcher for a young man," Yost said. "The way he commands it, it's very unique for a young man, just a special pitcher."

Braun became the first player ever to win both the Rookie and Player of the Month honors in the same month. In the month of July, he batted .345 with 11 home runs and 25 RBI.

"Tonight was big, I think we responded to a little incident yesterday and everybody came out a little more focused and more intensity and hopefully we keep that up," Braun said. "We needed to figure out where we were at as a team and what direction we needed to head in."

After scoring 26 runs in the four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the Phillies weren't able to muster much offense against Gallardo. After Jimmy Rollins' first-inning single, Gallardo retired 14 straight Philly batters through the sixth inning.

"The kid (Kendrick) pitched a heck of a game, but any time you can't get any runs, it's hard to win," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "Their kid (Gallardo) looked pretty good too, like he knew what he was doing."

The only offense for the Phillies came in the form of a towering home run in the seventh inning off the red-hot bat of Pat Burrell. Burrell extended his hitting streak to 12 games and has reached safely in his last 26.

The Brewers got on the board early when leadoff hitter Corey Hart was hit by a Kyle Kendrick (5-2) offering in the first. He promptly stole second and Prince Fielder drove him in with a single to right field. Hart was able to score when his knee knocked the ball loose from catcher Chris Coste's glove.

He had Corey thrown out, Brewers manager Ned Yost said. When you score that first run it just takes a little bit of pressure off.

Braun drove in the eventual winning run with a fifth inning single to left field. For the Brewers, it was only the second time this season that the team has won a game after scoring less than three runs. The team is 2-23 when scoring two or less.

Francisco Cordero struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 33rd save, tops in the majors.

Lost in Gallardo's dominance was the performance of his rookie counterpart, Kendrick, who tied his season-high going seven strong innings and giving up just a pair of runs. "Anytime you lose, you're unhappy, but I feel alright," Kendrick said. " Tomorrow we might score 10 runs, you just have to give credit to their pitcher."

Coupled with the Cubs loss to the New York Mets earlier Friday, the Brewers took back first place in the NL Central Division.

"With two months left, we have to take it like we're tied the whole way through," Fielder explained. "The plan is to try and run away so we don't have to worry."