Brewers tag Hudson with 5-run 7th, Braves lose

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Seldom have things deteriorated so rapidly for Braves ace Tim Hudson as they did in the seventh inning Saturday night, when first his pitch command was lost, followed soon by tempers, ejections and accusations of throwing at batters.

Hudson entered the inning with a four-hitter and a 2-1 lead against Milwaukee, then participated in a five-run implosion that lifted the Brewers to a 6-3 win before a stunned, sellout crowd of 48,174 at Turner Field.

The Braves have lost consecutive home games for the first time since late April and need a win Sunday to salvage a split of the four-game series. They’ve lost three of their past four games.

“I don’t think there’s a malaise,” said Braves left fielder Matt Diaz, who had a two-run homer and a double. “I think tomorrow’s game is big. We’ve got an off day the next day, and we have a chance to tie the series and keep that streak of non-loss series at home. So hopefully we’ll come out and show there’s not a lull coming off the All-Star break”

Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder was in the middle of a lot of activity, none of it good for the Braves.

Fielder hit a leadoff homer off Hudson to begin the seventh inning and was hit by a pitch in the eighth that got Braves rookie reliever Jonny Venters and manager Bobby Cox ejected. Fielder also was hit by a pitch Friday immediately after a home run by Ryan Braun.

On Saturday, Venters’ first pitch of the inning, a slider, sailed near Fielder’s head and drew a warning from home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez. When the next pitch hit Fielder in the back, the ejections of Venters and Cox were automatic.

“I didn’t even know they warned him, to be honest with you,” said Cox. “We didn’t hit [Ryan] Braun intentionally in Milwaukee, at all. We didn’t hit Fielder [intentionally] last night at all. And we didn’t hit him tonight intentionally, at all. And that is the truth.

“But from their perspective in the other dugout … [Milwaukee pitcher Randy] Wolf threw one up in [Brian McCann’s] chin last night, and they hit [Alex] Gonzalez [on Friday], and I said, well, that’s OK. We had it coming, even though it wasn’t intentional. That squares it.

“I don’t know what happened to Venters. The first one was a slider, and the next one just hit him. I don’t blame Prince for being mad, at all, but it’s not intentional. But the umpires had no choice. They issued the warning and then we hit him. And the one last night, you know, we hit him after a home run. It looks intentional.”

A visibly angry Fielder was restrained by Hernandez and led toward first base after being hit.

“My kids are here. I’m tired of being the one filmed,” Fielder said. “If that’s what they gotta do, then whatever, I’m here to play baseball. They can do whatever they want.”

Earlier this season, Braun missed two games after being hit by Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson.

“I don’t know what’s going on there,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “Bob Watson [Major League Baseball vice president of rules and on-field operations] ought to take a look at it. Braun hits a home run, they drill him. He hits a home run, his next at-bat they drill him. That’s evidence enough for me for some guys to get suspended for quite a bit.

“Now if they’re just wild, tell them to get the ball over the plate.”

The first-place Braves have dropped five of their past 10 at home, after winning 16 of 17 home games to build what is still the best home record in the majors (31-12).

The Braves still led the National League East by 4 1/2 games over Philadelphia and New York before the Mets’ late game Saturday at San Francisco.

Venters said he had never been ejected from a game until Saturday, and was adamant about neither pitch to Fielder being an intentional attempt to hit him.

“Just a couple of pitches that got away from me,” the rookie left-hander said. “The first one was a breaking ball, and the second one was a sinker that just ran away from me a little bit. It just took off on me. I tried to throw a little bit too hard and pulled off on it. It just got away from me.

“The last thing I want to do there is hit him. It’s a three-run ball game. Both pitches just got away from me a little bit. I know it looked bad, but it’s nothing [intentional]. ... I know [Fielder] wasn’t real happy about it. He has to know it wasn’t intentional.”

It was the 156th ejection for Cox, extending his major league career record.

That incident followed an eruption of a different sort one inning earlier.

Hudson gave up a leadoff homer to Fielder on a 1-2 count to start the seventh, and things went downhill from there for Hudson (9-5). He recorded the first out before giving up a walk and a single. One out later, Hudson walked Joe Inglett to load the bases, then walked Rickie Weeks to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

Reliever Peter Moylan entered to face hot-hitting Corey Hart, who doubled to clear the bases and turn a one-run lead into a 6-2 gap for the Brewers. All three runs were added to Hudson’s ledger, giving him six runs, six hits and four walks allowed in 6 2/3 innings.

That made it his worst start since he gave up six runs in five innings against Toronto on June 28, 2008, one month before going on the disabled list with a torn elbow ligament.

“You want those guys to try to earn their way back in the game, and I pretty much handed it to them on a platter,” said Hudson, who had been 8-3 with a 2.05 ERA in 14 starts since May 1.

Diaz has hit .379 with five doubles and two homers in eight starts since returning from the disabled list, where he spent six weeks recovering from an infected thumb that required surgery.