GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: PHILADELPHIA (57-51) at MILWAUKEE (58-51)

Gallardo leads Brewers past Phillies, back into first

<h3>MILWAUKEE 2, PHILADELPHIA 1</h3>By Nick Berenz
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


MILWAUKEE (Ticker) - A pair of rookies helped lead the Brewersback into first place with a 2-1 win over the PhiladelphiaPhillies.


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


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


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


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

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


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


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

Braun drove in the eventual winning run with a fifth inningsingle to left field.


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


Lost in Gallardo's dominance was the performance of his rookiecounterpart, Kendrick, who tied his season-high going sevenstrong innings and giving up just a pair of runs. Coupled withthe Cubs loss to the New York Mets earlier Friday, the Brewerstook back first place in the NL Central Division.

 

NL: PHILADELPHIA at MILWAUKEE

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PHILADELPHIA (1) AT MILWAUKEE (2) - HOW THEY SCORED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MILWAUKEE 1ST: C Hart hit by pitch. C Hart stole second. J Hardy grounded
out to third. R Braun flied out to right. P Fielder singled to right, C Hart
scored. B Hall flied out to right. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) PHILADELPHIA 0,
MILWAUKEE 1.

MILWAUKEE 5TH: T Graffanino flied out to right. Y Gallardo singled to
left. C Hart struck out swinging. J Hardy reached on infield single to
pitcher, Y Gallardo to second. R Braun singled to left, Y Gallardo scored,
J Hardy to second. P Fielder fouled out to third. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors)
PHILADELPHIA 0, MILWAUKEE 2.

PHILADELPHIA 7TH: R Howard walked. A Rowand grounded into double play,
third to second to first, R Howard out at second. P Burrell homered to left
center. B Shouse relieved Y Gallardo. A Nunez hit for G Dobbs. A Nunez
grounded out to shortstop. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) PHILADELPHIA 1, MILWAUKEE 2.</div>

 

Gallardo leads Brewers past Phillies, back into first

<h3>MILWAUKEE 2, PHILADELPHIA 1</h3>By Nick Berenz
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


MILWAUKEE (Ticker) - A pair of rookies helped lead the Brewersback into first place with a 2-1 win over the PhiladelphiaPhillies.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

"Tonight was big, I think we responded to a little incidentyesterday and everybody came out a little more focused and moreintensity and hopefully we keep that up," Braun said. "Weneeded to figure out where we were at as a team and whatdirection we needed to head in."


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


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


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


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

He had Corey thrown out, Brewers manager Ned Yost said. Whenyou score that first run it just takes a little bit of pressureoff.


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

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


Lost in Gallardo's dominance was the performance of his rookiecounterpart, Kendrick, who tied his season-high going sevenstrong innings and giving up just a pair of runs. "Anytime youlose, you're unhappy, but I feel alright," Kendrick said. "Tomorrow we might score 10 runs, you just have to give credit totheir 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 thewhole way through," Fielder explained. "The plan is to try andrun away so we don't have to worry."