MILWAUKEE -- For seven innings on Monday, it appeared Brandon Beachy's gutty pitching performance would be wasted and another undistinguished left-hander would beat the Braves.
But as quickly as one could say troubling trends, Martin Prado and Dan Uggla hit eighth-inning home runs to power the Braves to a 2-1 win over Milwaukee before a a sellout crowd in the Brewers’ home opener.
“That’s all it takes,” said Prado, who led off the eighth with a homer off reliever Takashi Saito, formerly a Braves teammate. “If we keep the game close, I know we’ve got a couple of guys here who can hit the ball out of the park at any moment. ... That’s what it’s all about: keep the games close and anything can happen.”
Uggla followed minutes later with a decisive two-out, line-drive homer off Saito that bounced off the top of the left-field fence, the second homer among three hits for the Braves’ new second baseman.
Saito, 41, had not allowed two homers in one game in any his previous 293 major-league appearances.
The win was the third in four games for the Braves, who have spoiled home openers for Washington and Milwaukee during a seven-game trip that ends Thursday.
“I looked [bad] all game long, was maybe a little bit overanxious on my first few at-bats,” said Uggla, who grounded out twice and popped out before the eighth inning. “But to get that go-ahead home run was a pretty cool thing. It’s my first week with a new team, and a there’s a lot of excitement.”
Plenty of excitement was generated by Braves rookie pitchers Beachy and closer Craig Kimbrel. Beachy allowed one run, four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in six innings, retiring the last nine batters he faced.
Kimbrel blew 97-mph fastballs past hitters while striking out the side in the ninth inning, giving him two saves and five strikeouts in two appearances.
Left-hander Jonny Venters made one of the game’s biggest pitches in the eighth inning, inducing an inning-ending double-play by Prince Fielder, the only batter he faced.
Milwaukee's leadoff hitter reached base each of the first four innings against Beachy, who was making his fourth major league start. In three of those innings the Brewers failed to score and stranded at least one runner in scoring position.
The exception was the third, when Rickie Weeks hit a leadoff homer on a 3-1 fastball, Weeks' third home run in four games.
“The adrenaline was pumping and I wasn’t very sharp,” Beachy said. “I couldn’t throw a slider near the strike zone, so that was completely ineffective for the first few innings. I got away with a lot of fastballs over the plate in those first two or three innings."
Said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, “He gets in jams, but he doesn’t give in. He goes out and makes pitches. I think his stuff got better as the game went on.”
The Braves mustered three hits and three walks in six innings against left-hander Chris Narveson. They had a baserunner in every inning against Narveson, but none advanced past first base. They didn’t have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position the entire game.
It didn’t matter, though, once Prado took Saito deep on a 3-2 fastball after falling behind in the count 1-2.
“I never faced him before,” said Prado, explaining why he took two strikes. “I have to know what his plan is and see what kind of pitches he has. He threw everything to me; threw a fastball outside, threw cutters, threw a curveball. I said, ‘Well, I don’t think he’s got a changeup yet.' He didn’t throw me a changeup. I got a fastball right in the middle, and I hit it.”
It was as if the lid had been blown off a pressure cooker.
“I mean, it was like the dugout exploded,” Uggla said.
