Newcomb struggles again as Braves fall to Brewers

Sean Newcomb had another tough outing as the Atlanta Braves fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 10-3.

Newcomb ran into trouble in the third where the Brewers plated five runs with the big blow coming on a three-run homer off the bat of Herńan Pérez. Christian Yelich plated the first run with a single that scored Jonathan Villar. Travis Shaw followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. That set up Perez who jumped on a 1-0 pitch and hammered it to left center to increase the lead to 5-0.

Newcomb would face three batters in the fourth before exiting having working 3 2/3 innings having allowed five hits and five runs to go along with four walks and three strikeouts. He threw 82 pitches with only 44 resulting in strikes and has now walked nine batters over his last 6 1/3 innings. Luke Jackson escaped the inning with no damage.

Atlanta finally got on the board in the fifth. Dansby Swanson led off the inning with a double and moved up to third on a ground out by Ryan Flaherty. Ender Inciarte then blooped a pop up into shallow left field that was dropped by Brewers’ shortstop Tyler Saladino allowing Swanson to score.

Inciarte wasn’t running out of the box and ended up only at first base. It was the second base running gaffe of the day for Inciarte who was also thrown out in the third when trying to advance to second on a fly out by Ozzie Albies. Brian Snitker didn’t apparently appreciate the lack of hustle and Inciarte was replaced by Danny Santana in the bottom half of the inning.

Luiz Gohara worked two scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth while striking out two. It was the second straight solid relief appearance for Gohara who is starting to look like his old self.

Milwaukee added another run in the seventh against Sam Freeman on a solo home run off the bat of Jesus Aguilar. They would blow the game wide open in the eighth against Evan Phillips. Eric Thames connected on a long pinch-hit home run to right center. Aguilar would later follow with his second home run of the game, a three-run shot to increase the lead to 10-1.

The Braves would add two more runs in the ninth, with the first coming on a pinch-hit RBI single by Tyler Flowers that scored Santana to make it 10-2. Freddie Freeman then followed with a double off the left field wall that scored Flowers to make it 10-3

Freeman followed up yesterday’s three hit performance with another on Sunday. Charlie Culberson also finished with two hits for Atlanta.

Ronald Acuña Jr. pinch hit in the seventh and lined a single to right field. It was his first appearance since suffering a strained groin in Friday’s game.

The Braves finish their wrap up their 10-game road trip with a 5-5 record. they will enjoy an off day on Monday before opening a two-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday at SunTrust Park.