MILWAUKEE – Freddie Freeman unloaded some of his and the Braves' pent-up frustrations against the Brewers with a pair of home runs Tuesday on a night when Alex Wood didn't need much more support than that.
After Jason Heyward’s two-run, two-out homer in the fifth inning that gave the Braves their first lead of the season, Freeman hit solo homers in the sixth and eighth innings to help secure a 5-2 win that evened the team’s record at 1-1. It was Freeman’s fifth multihomer game and his first homers in 20 career games against Milwaukee.
Wood (1-0) limited the Brewers to five hits and three walks and didn’t allow a run after Carlos Gomez homered on the first pitch of the first inning, and the Braves won for only the third time in 12 games at Miller Park since the beginning of the 2011 season.
“It’s just nice to go out there and give Woody a little cushion,” Freeman said. “The way he was pitching, he didn’t really need many runs…. The last three or four years we haven’t really done well against the Brewers here at Miller Park. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way. As an offense we knew we weren’t going to get shut out all 162.
It was the 12th career start for Wood, who is 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA in his past 10. The Brewers didn’t advance a runner past first base against the left-hander from the third through seventh innings, then scored in the eighth against reliever David Carpenter.
Closer Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth, blowing steady 97 mph heat past every Milwaukee hitter he faced.
“He’s pretty unbelievable, man,” Wood said of Kimbrel. “And it’s fun to watch. Just any inning when he comes in, you pretty much know the game’s over. I mean, he’s that kind of pitcher.”
Wood’s teammates heaped plenty of praise on their 23-year-old starting pitcher, who impressed everyone with how he stayed calm and buckled down after giving up the Gomez homer on his initial pitch.
“You don’t have much of a choice after first pitch, first hitter of the game, you know?” Wood said. “It’s one of those things where he’s a swinger, he’s a heck of a hitter, and he was aggressive early and went out there and got ahold of one, that’s for sure. I had to settle down after that and try and make some pitches.”
He did that, striking out five and inducing ground balls that led to some quick outs and crisp innings.
“It’s great to see him keep his composure there,” Heyward said. “He wants the ball every time. He wants to be on the mound for us, he wants to go out there and get every guy out he can and be in the game as long as possible. And that’s the best way to do it right there, put that first one behind you and go get the rest of the guys.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said, “Mentally he’s a tough cookie. He knows what he wants to do. He prepares about as good as – better than any young player I’ve been around.”
Freeman’s .148 average against the Brewers before Tuesday was his worst against any team he played more than three games against, and Milwaukee also was the only team he’d played at least that many games against without a homer. He was began to even the scales a bit Tuesday, going 3-for-3 with a walk and his first multi-homer game since July 30 at Colorado.
“I’m tired of hearing him say, ‘I don’t hit well here,’ or ‘I don’t feel good right now.’ Save it,” Heyward said of Freeman, one of his closest friends. “That’s the kind of hitter he is. When he’s up there not thinking, he can react and put a lot of balls in play and do it with some authority like he did tonight.”
The Braves got a bit too aggressive attempting to tie the score in the fourth inning. After Freeman singled to start the inning, he was still standing at first base with two outs when Dan Uggla doubled to deep center. Freeman was rounding third when the throw was made, but first-year third base coach Doug Dascenzo waved the big, less-than-fleet first baseman home.
The relay throw from shortstop Jean Segura got to the plate at least 10 feet ahead of Freeman, who didn’t bother trying to slide because there was no need to. Tag made, inning over.
An inning later, Heyward didn’t leave anything to judgment. Two batters after an Andrelton Simmons walk, Kyle Lohse (0-1) faced baseball’s largest leadoff hitter with two outs. He threw two sinkers out of the strike zone to Heyward, and when he threw another sinker with the count 2-and-0, Heyward laid it into, pulling the ball high and over the right-field fence.
The Braves had gone homerless in eight of the past 10 games against Milwaukee and been shut out in six of the past nine before Heyward ended their 22-inning scoreless drought against the Brewers with his first homer of the season.
After Freeman’s two homers off Lohse and left-hander Zach Duke, the Braves added a run in the ninth on Simmons’ sacrifice fly, after Uggla doubled again and Evan Gattis singled.
When Gomez homered to straightaway center on Wood’s first pitch of the season, a 90-mph fastball, the Miller Park faithful probably figured they were well on their way to a 2-0 start and series win against the Braves.
It was the third career leadoff homer for Gomez, who sprinted around the bases in 16 seconds, possibly mocking the Braves a bit for their taking umbrage with his slow, trash-talking home-run trot that caused a near-brawl between the teams in September at Turner Field. That night, catcher Brian McCann met him halfway up the third-base line and berated him in a face-to-face confrontation that emptied the benches and bullpens.
Tuesday, the Brewers added a walk and a single before Wood got out of the first inning, and they started the second inning with another single and a walk to put the young lefty in a tight spot. But Wood quickly wiggled out of it with a strikeout and a double-play grounder, which seemed to start him in a groove that he would stay in for the rest of his performance.
“I had a pretty good mix of all three pitches,” Wood said, “and just got some ground balls and they made some great plays behind me.”
