Some in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse remarked after Wednesday’s doubleheader about all the bloop and dink hits that Martin Prado had gotten against them.
In the eighth inning Thursday, he didn’t bloop anything.
Prado hit a homer to lead off the inning and lift the resurgent Braves to a 2-1 win that completed a four-game series sweep against the Brewers before another sparse crowd (15,307) at Turner Field.
Brandon Beachy and Brewers starter Shaun Marcum waged a pitchers' duel for most of the night before Prado hit the game-winner off reliever Kameron Loe on a 3-1 fastball.
“It was great," Prado said. "Beachy’s performance, their guy’s performance – it was a nice game, and I’m glad that I was the guy that got the [homer] and let us sweep the series. That gives us confidence going to face Philly.”
It was the 10th win in 13 games for the Braves, who travel to Philadelphia for a three-game weekend series with the National League East-leading Phillies starting Friday night. The Braves have a season-high five-game winning streak.
“A four-game sweep in baseball is about the rarest thing out there, it's really hard to do," said Eric Hinske, whose second-inning homer gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. "So it’s just a great series for us. We’ve been playing about.500 ball all year, and it’s nice to get over the hump and start a winning streak, for sure.”
Beachy continued his stretch of stellar, no-decision pitching, matching a career-high with nine strikeouts in six innings and allowing four hits and one unearned run with one walk.
“He really gave us a good outing," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "For him to pitch out of that jam in the sixth was really big. He’s not getting wins right now, but he’s pitched well enough to win at least four games."
Braves pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts, including two in the eighth by Jonny Venters (2-0) and two in the ninth by closer Craig Kimbrel.
Chipper Jones added two doubles for the Braves to give him 504 for his career, tying Roberto Alomar for third all-time among switch-hitters.
Marcum allowed just five hits and one run in seven innings, that on Hinske's homer on an 0-and-2 pitch with one out.
“It was 0-2, and I was just looking to put the bat on the ball," Hinske said. "He kind of left a cutter over the plate a little bit, stayed more middle than he wanted. ... I’m not saying I was lucky, but 0-2 counts, you don’t expect to hit a home run most of the time."
Beachy is 1-0 with a 1.44 ERA in his past four starts, with no decisions in his past three games, despite pitching six or more innings and allowing two earned runs or fewer in each.
"Absolutely," he said when asked if no decision and a team win was OK by him. “I mean, sweeping a team is never going to get old, no matter how you do it.
“We’ve won five in a row, swept a team that was pretty hot coming in, as far as I could tell. We feel good. We’re playing good baseball right now.”
He struck out the first four batters Thursday and had seven strikeouts through three innings, one shy of his season-high.
The right-hander recorded one more strikeout in each of the next two innings to finish with nine, matching the career-best he set in his second major league start (in five innings) against Washington on Sept. 26.
In his past four starts, Beachy has 28 strikeouts with four walks in 25 innings.
“It would be nice to get [Beachy] wins," Hinske said. "He’s pitching in such close games. We’re trying to get him runs, and it seems like we’re getting tough pitching when he’s up on the hill. His command of his fastball is just amazing. All the hitters were saying when they got down to first base how heavy his fastlball is, how much it’s just on him and they can’t catch up. To have him in our rotation is a huge plus for us, and he’s a great guy, too.”
Hinske got his third start at first base, despite being 1-for-9 with five strikeouts previously against Marcum. He made the move look wise, homering on an 0-2 pitch in his first at-bat.
The Brewers tied the score in the fifth after an error by backup shortstop Brandon Hicks, who fielded Yuniesky Betancourt’s one-out grounder and bounced a throw to Hinske that he got a glove on, but couldn’t field cleanly.
Corey Hart followed with a single, and Betancourt scored on a Jonathan Lucroy sacrifice fly.
The Braves had scoring opportunities in the fourth and sixth innings, and both times Dan Uggla grounded out with runners in scoring position. He also lined out with runners at first and second in the eighth and slipped to 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position.
Uggla grounded out with two on to end the sixth, after tapping a groundout to the pitcher with a runner at second and one out in the fourth. The Brewers intentionally walked Brian McCann with first base open to bring up Uggla in the sixth and again in the eighth.
They had another chance in the seventh after Hinske’s leadoff single. But hot-hitting Nate McLouth popped out, pinch-hitter Alex Gonzalez flied out, and pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad struck out to end the inning.
