Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 48-22, 1st place, MGL (season)
June 19-20, versus Los Angeles:
3-0,
8-3.
June 21-23, at San Francisco:
2-7,
2-1,
5-3.
June 24-25, versus Oklahoma City:
6-9,
8-5.
The Brewers started the week by concluding a 3-game sweep of arch-rival L.A.
In the second game of the series on Sunday, the Brewers finally got the kind of start out of veteran lefty
Erik Sloan we all know he is capable of. Sloan (1-1, 5.67) hurled a 3-hit shutout for the victory.
Jake DiCesare paced the offense with a 2 for 4, 2 RBI game and hit his 3rd homer of the season.
Joe McPhillips belted his 9th round tripper in the game.
In the final game of the series,
Sekien Hamsaki (9-0, 3.12) won his league best 9th game and remained undefeated for the season. Hamasaki worked 7 innings, giving up 3 runs (but only 1 earned) on 5 hits, striking out 8 and walking 3. The Brewers hit 3 home runs off veteran great Jaime Schardein:
Rich White hit his 5th of the season,
Brett Taranto his 7th, and
Joe McPhillips his 10th.
The Brewers headed to the Bay Area next to take on the San Francisco Velocity. In the first game of the series, they took a loss and saw
Bobby Erbakan's 45-game hitting streak come to an end.
John Weaver (3-4, 4.07) took the loss, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits over 5 2/3rds innings.
Brett Taranto, who has really found his power stroke of late, hit his 8th homer of the season in the loss and
RodRod, recently returned from the IL and a rehab stint, went 2 for 4.
In game 2, the Brewers bounced back behind a solid 6 innings from starter
Cheol-han Lee and a great performance by three relievers. Cheol-han (4-4, 7.25) gave up just 1 run on 5 hits.
Tim Shore pitched the last inning and a third for his 12th save.
Andrew Kennedy went 2 for 3 and hit his 2nd homer of the season.
The Brewers won the rubber match in spite of starter
Matt Helm having to exit having only recorded 2 outs.
Ben Flynn pitched an heroic 4 2/3rds, tossing 64 pitches, striking out 8 batters and giving up just 1 run on 5 hits.
Walter Hackler (2-0, 2.81), the next man out of the 'pen, got credit for the win. With the bullpen exhausted, starter
Steve Green came in to get the final 4 outs and was credited with the save, the first of his big league career. Then again, it was also the first time in his WPK career that he entered a game in relief.
Rich White went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI in the win and
Bobby Erbakan hit his 20th double of 1977.
The Brewers then returned to Centennial Stadium in the Mile High City to take on the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings, who have once again returned to 2nd place behind Denver in the MGL, with L.A. slumping recently. And the Diamond Kings took another step closer to the Brewers in game 1 as they got to
Sadahige Kawasaki (8-6, 2.17) and the bullpen for a relatively easy win. Kawasaki gave up 5 runs on 12 hits over 7 innings in the loss.
Brett Taranto went 3 for 5 and hit his 9th homer of the season and
Bobby Erbakan was 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and hit homer #11.
The Brewers took game 2 on Saturday afternoon with rookie
Val Guzman helping to lead the way by going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI and hitting his 4th HR of the season.
Bobby Erbakan also went 2 for 4 and hit his 21st double and 12th HR.
Erik Sloan (2-1, 5.14) got another win, allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits over 8 innings, recording 9 K's and walking just 1 batter.
Cory Degano, having been recalled recently from AAA Chester as the Brewers cycle in some fresh arms, pitched the 9th for his 1st big league save.
