Prince Fielder hits two homers, Brewers again shut out struggling Braves 3-0
By Charles Odum, Gaea News NetworkSunday, June 7, 2009
Fielder powers Brewers past Braves 3-0
ATLANTA — Prince Fielder’s third two-homer game of the season gave the Milwaukee Brewers all the offense they needed for a 3-0 win over the punchless Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.
Jeff Suppan (4-4) gave up six hits in 5 1-3 innings as the Brewers took their second straight shutout win over Atlanta and extended the Braves’ streak of scoreless innings to 22. The Braves have lost three straight.
The first-place Brewers moved two games ahead of St. Louis in the NL Central.
Atlanta’s Chipper Jones left the game in the fifth with dizziness.
Milwaukee’s Mike Cameron was ejected by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson for arguing a called third strike in the ninth inning.
Trevor Hoffman, Milwaukee’s fourth reliever, pitched the ninth for his 15th straight save.
Fielder gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead with his 14th homer, off Javier Vazquez (4-5) in the fifth. Milwaukee added a run in the sixth when Jason Kendall singled to right and scored on Craig Counsell’s double.
Vazquez gave up four hits and two runs in six innings.
Fielder hit Eric O’Flaherty’s first pitch in the seventh over the wall in right-center. Fielder has 15 homers this season.
The Braves were held to a season-low two hits in Friday night’s 4-0 loss to Milwaukee.
Atlanta’s offensive woes continued even after Brian McCann led off the sixth with his second career triple. Ryan Braun lost McCann’s flyball in the lights in left field. With Braun holding his hands out to indicate he couldn’t find the ball, the ball landed behind him a few feet in front of the warning track. McCann was safe at third with a head-first slide.
McCann took off for the plate on Garret Anderson’s grounder to first but was thrown out by Fielder’s throw to Kendall.
Suppan left the game after walking Jeff Francoeur. Todd Coffey struck out Martin Prado but walked pinch-hitter Greg Norton to load the bases. Left-hander Mitch Stetter struck out Kelly Johnson on three pitches to end the inning.
The Braves, who had their NL-leading seventh shutout loss, also were shut out in back-to-back games by Pittsburgh on April 17-18.
Jones left the game after he ended the fifth with a groundout. He ran slowly to first base and then leaned over as manager Bobby Cox and trainer Jeff Porter met with him.
Tags: Atlanta, Bbn-brewers-braves, Georgia, Met, Milwaukee, North America, Pittsburgh, Prince, Professional Baseball, Ryan, Trevor hoffman, United States, Wisconsin