Estrada, Brewers blank Braves
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Marco Estrada pitched into the seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers took a 5-0 win over the Atlanta Braves in the second of a three-game set.
Estrada (3-6) gave up just four hits and a walk with six strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings for the Brewers, who have won four of their last five to move to .500 since they were 9-9 back on April 24.
"He had such great command of all his pitches tonight," said Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke about Estrada. "His changeup, especially, was really on and he can really confuse hitters when that pitch is working for him."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rickie Weeks and Aramis Ramirez each hit a solo home run in the win for Milwaukee.
Tim Hudson (14-6) gave up four runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Braves, who have dropped their past two. Andrelton Simmons had two of the five hits.
"We swung the bats hard but couldn't get off the wall or in front of the wall," said Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez. "We're not feeling too good right now with the way we're swinging the bats, but we have a chance to go 4-2 on this road trip and we'll take it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weeks got the scoring started in the first with his one-out shot to center, his 18th round-tripper of the season.
The score stayed that way until the Brewers opened things up in the seventh. Aramis Ramirez and Jonathan Lucroy each singled to start and were moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt from Travis Ishikawa. After Carlos Gomez was hit by a pitch, Jean Seguera drove in one with a fielder's choice. Taylor Green then singled home a run and Norichika Aoki doubled in another for a 4-0 lead.
Ramirez homered in the eighth, his 23rd of the season, for a 5-0 advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Atlanta left a man on second in the third then were retired in order in the fifth and sixth.
Estrada stranded a runner in the sixth then was pulled with two outs and a man on base in the seventh. Jim Henderson got Simmons to groundout.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 eighth while Brandon Kintzler left a man on in the ninth to close the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
Atlanta had swept a three-game set against Milwaukee at home in early April ... The Braves left six men on base ... Estrada improved to 2-1 in eight games against the Braves ... Hudson fell to 4-4 in 10 games against the Brewers.