Milwaukee, WI – Mike Fiers posted a career-high nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings and the Brewers beat Washington, 6-0, capping a day of change for Milwaukee.
Before the game, the Brewers, who are mired in fourth place in the NL Central, traded away their ace Zack Greinke to the Angels. In exchange, Milwaukee will receive shortstop Jean Segura and a pair of Double-A pitchers - Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg.
Corey Hart and Aramis Ramirez each smacked two-run homers, as Milwaukee snapped their seven-game skid and Washington's six-game winning streak.
"We did a nice job of concentrating. We knew what we had to get done. Any time you lose one of your main guys it changes your make up," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke.
Fiers (4-4) gave up four hits and walked three in 6 1/3 shutout innings to even this four-game series.
Ross Detwiler (5-4) surrendered seven hits and four runs over 4 2/3 frames to suffer his first defeat since May 19 against Baltimore. The Nationals were limited to four hits, all singles.
"That's a good hitting team over there," said Detwiler. "They will capitalize if you make a mistake. I put us in hole early."
The Brewers reportedly made the decision to trade Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner after an 0-6 road trip. That included three straight 7-6 losses at Philadelphia, when the Phillies rallied to win each game in their final at-bat.
Greinke, who is in the final season of a four-year, $38 million contract, is 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts this season.
"We greatly appreciate Zack's contributions to the Brewers," general manager Doug Melvin said. "He will be greatly missed on the field and in the clubhouse. We wish him nothing but the very best. We are also very excited about acquiring three good young players who are already on the 40-man roster. We look forward to them joining organization and their future contributions to the Brewers."
Ramirez doubled in the fourth, ahead of Hart's 18th homer of the year. Milwaukee added four runs the next inning, starting with RBI singles from Carlos Gomez and then Ryan Braun before Ramirez smashed a long homer to left- center off Craig Stammen.
The Nationals put runners on the corners in the seventh, but Livan Hernandez induced an inning-ending double play ball from Sandy Leon. Hernandez and Jose Veras threw the final 2 2/3 frames.
Game Notes
Ramirez has 34 doubles this season, which ranks second in the National League...The Brewers are 6-0-1 over their last seven home series. The team has not lost a home series since dropping two of three to the Pirates from June 1-3.
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