Milwaukee, WI – Ryan Braun hit two homers, Wily Peralta pitched eight shutout innings, and John Axford closed it out in the ninth as the Milwaukee Brewers blanked the New York Mets 3-0 to take the rubber match of a three-game set.
Braun's second homer was his 40th of the season, marking the first time in his career that he has reached the plateau.
The Brewers won for the 20th time in their last 26 games and trail the Cardinals by 2 1/2 games for the final NL wild card spot.
The Mets managed only two hits, both off of Peralta (2-0), who made just the third start of his career. He fanned five and walked only one.
"He had a good 96 mph fastball and a good sinker," said manager Ron Roenicke, who was very impressed with his young pitcher. "He kept the ball down in the zone and had a good slider with great command."
Chris Young (4-8) pitched well, but gave up three homers to account for all of the Brewers' runs. He lasted 6 2/3 innings, giving up eight hits while striking out two.
Braun and Aramis Ramirez went back-to-back to start the bottom half of the fourth to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead. Braun added another run when he hit his second homer to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
"They can do damage in this ballpark," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "Two hits won't get you far."
Josh Thole and Andres Torres were the only batters to record hits for the Mets.
Axford record his 29th save of the season after working around a one-out walk to Daniel Murphy.
Game Notes
The Mets have lost the season series with the Brewers for three straight years ... The Brewers set a franchise record for season strikeouts with 1,259 when Peralta struck out Lucas Duda in the second inning ... Peralta's double in the seventh inning was the first of his career ... Braun now has 201 home runs for his career.
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