GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NL: MILWAUKEE (49-38) at WASHINGTON (35-52)

NL: MILWAUKEE at WASHINGTON

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MILWAUKEE (2) AT WASHINGTON (7) - EVENT LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Milwaukee Starting Lineups -- C Hart RF, J Hardy SS, R Braun 3B, P Fielder 1B,
J Estrada C, G Gross LF, T Gwynn Jr CF, C Counsell 2B, C Capuano LHP.

Washington Starting Lineups -- N Logan CF, D Jimenez 2B, R Zimmerman 3B,
A Kearns RF, T Batista 1B, F Lopez SS, R Church LF, J Flores C, T Redding RHP.

Umpires -- Angel Hernandez (HP), Fieldin Culbreth (1B), Mark Carlson (2B),
Larry Young (3B).

Gametime Weather: 93 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind out to right at 9 mph.


MILWAUKEE 1ST: C Hart flied out to center. J Hardy singled to right.
J Hardy to second on balk by T Redding. R Braun singled to left, J Hardy to
third. P Fielder grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first,
R Braun out at second.(0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 0.

WASHINGTON 1ST: N Logan reached on infield single to shortstop. D Jimenez
grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, N Logan out at second.
R Zimmerman reached on infield single to third. A Kearns grounded into
fielder's choice to shortstop, R Zimmerman out at second. (0 Runs, 2 Hits,
0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 0.

MILWAUKEE 2ND: J Estrada grounded out to first. G Gross grounded out to
second. T Gwynn Jr flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0,
WASHINGTON 0.

WASHINGTON 2ND: T Batista grounded out to shortstop. F Lopez homered to
right. R Church struck out looking. J Flores struck out swinging. (1 Run,
1 Hit, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 1.

MILWAUKEE 3RD: C Counsell walked. C Capuano bunted into double play,
pitcher to shortstop to first, C Counsell out at second. C Hart struck
out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 1.

WASHINGTON 3RD: T Redding singled to left. N Logan sacrificed to pitcher,
T Redding to second. D Jimenez grounded out to shortstop, T Redding to third.
R Zimmerman flied out to right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0,
WASHINGTON 1.

MILWAUKEE 4TH: J Hardy flied out to left. R Braun doubled to right.
P Fielder flied out to center. R Braun safe at third on throwing error by
catcher J Flores. J Estrada grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 1 Error)
MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 1.

WASHINGTON 4TH: A Kearns singled to left. T Batista grounded into double
play, shortstop to second to first, A Kearns out at second. F Lopez hit by
pitch. F Lopez to second on wild pitch by C Capuano. R Church grounded out to
second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0, WASHINGTON 1.

MILWAUKEE 5TH: G Gross flied out to center. T Gwynn Jr bunt popped out to
first. C Counsell flied out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0,
WASHINGTON 1.

WASHINGTON 5TH: J Flores grounded out to shortstop. T Redding struck out
swinging. N Logan struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 0,
WASHINGTON 1.

MILWAUKEE 6TH: C Capuano singled to left center. C Hart grounded out to
third, C Capuano to second. J Hardy grounded out to second, C Capuano to
third. R Braun hit by pitch. P Fielder doubled to deep center, C Capuano and
R Braun scored. J Estrada lined out to right. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors)
MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 1.

WASHINGTON 6TH: D Jimenez walked. R Zimmerman homered to left, D Jimenez
scored. A Kearns walked. T Batista singled to center, A Kearns to second.
F Lopez walked, A Kearns to third, T Batista to second. R Church hit sacrifice
fly to center, A Kearns scored. J Flores reached on infield single to
shortstop, T Batista to third, F Lopez to second. M Wise relieved C Capuano.
R Belliard hit for T Redding. R Belliard doubled to deep center, T Batista,
F Lopez and J Flores scored. N Logan walked. D Jimenez flied out to center.
R Zimmerman struck out looking. (6 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 2,
WASHINGTON 7.

MILWAUKEE 7TH: R Langerhans in left field. R King relieved T Redding.
G Gross grounded out to first. T Gwynn Jr struck out swinging. C Counsell
walked. T Graffanino hit for M Wise. L Ayala relieved R King. T Graffanino
struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 7.

WASHINGTON 7TH: Y Gallardo relieved M Wise. A Kearns flied out to right.
T Batista fouled out to first. F Lopez singled to left. R Langerhans struck out
looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 7.

MILWAUKEE 8TH: C Hart flied out to center. J Hardy flied out to center.
R Braun singled to left. P Fielder struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0
Errors) MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 7.

WASHINGTON 8TH: J Flores struck out swinging. R Fick hit for L Ayala.
R Fick flied out to right. N Logan grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 7.

MILWAUKEE 9TH: C Cordero relieved L Ayala. J Estrada lined out to right.
G Gross flied out to center. T Gwynn Jr lined out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) MILWAUKEE 2, WASHINGTON 7.</div>

 

Sixth-inning surge powers Nationals over Brewers

<h3>WASHINGTON 7, MILWAUKEE 2</h3>WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Washington Nationals scored sixruns in the sixth inning en route to defeating the MilwaukeeBrewers, 7-2, on Sunday.


The outburst was highlighted by a two-run homer from RyanZimmerman and a bases-clearing double by Ronnie Belliard.

Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Nationalssent 11 men to the plate and sent Brewers starter Chris Capuano(5-6) to the showers, having allowed all six runs and sevenoverall for the game in 5 1/3 innings.


Nationals pitcher Tim Redding (1-1), who allowed two runs in sixinnings, picked up his first win since September 26, 2004, whenhe was a member of the Houston Astros.


Following a leadoff walk to D'Angelo Jimenez - the first allowedby Capuano - Zimmerman blasted his 14th home run of the seasonover the left field wall to put the Nationals up 3-2.

"I think he was sitting changeup," said Capuano, who has droppedsix straight decisions. "I thought I executed it the way Iwanted, too. That's a case of not necessarily a mistake, justthe wrong pitch."


Making his second start since being activated from the disabledlist on July 1, Capuano suddenly lost control of the strikezone. He walked Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez with TonyBatista's single sandwiched in between to load the bases.

Ryan Church's sacrifice fly to center was the first out, butdeep enough to score Kearns to make it 4-2.


After Jesus Flores singled to load the bases, Capuano was pulledfor reliever Matt Wise. Belliard came on to pinch hit forRedding and sent a 0-1 pitch to the gap in left-center, sendingall three runners home to give the Nationals a five-run lead.

"No offense to Jimenez, but you don't walk a guy who is hitting.045 (Jimenez' average starting the at-bat)," said Brewersmanager Ned Yost, referring to the leadoff walk that started therally. "Simple as that."


Despite the loss, their second in a row and four out of five,the Brewers (49-39) head into the All-Star break in first placein the NL Central. It is the first time they have been leadingtheir division at the break since 1982, when they led the ALEast.


"Our guys made good strides in a lot of areas on the field,"Yost said. "I look forward to continuing that in the secondhalf."


Milwaukee took the lead in the top of the sixth. Capuano opened<div class="pre">the inning with a single to left and made his way to third on</div>consecutive groundouts. Ryan Braun, who went 3-for-3, was thenhit by a pitch.


Prince Fielder, who grounded in to a double play to stop a rallyin the first inning, ripped a 1-1 pitch from Redding off thebase of the left-center field wall. Capuano scored and Braunraced home from first to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.

The win by Redding, who was injured much of 2005 and spent lastseason in the minors, combined with Saturday's victory by JasonSimontacchi marked consecutive wins from Nationals startingpitchers for the first time since June 8-9.


"It feels good to get the first one out of the way," saidRedding, who suffered a loss in his July 2 start, his firstsince being recalled. "I got a few more groundballs today thanI did the other day. I had a couple of key double plays."

Fielder, who will be making his first All-Star appearance<div class="pre">Tuesday in San Francisco, finished the first half with a</div>NL-leading 29 home runs and 70 RBI. He will be joined in theBay area by shortstop J.J. Hardy and pitchers Ben Sheets andFrancisco Cordero.


The Nationals, who finished the first half in the NL Eastbasement, have won two straight and three out of five games. Theback-to-back to wins were the first since they won threestraight between June 12-14.


"We've been playing well the last three or four games", saidZimmerman, who finished 2-for-4. "Get a little break andhopefully keep it going."