Crew preys on pitches, miscues for 4 early runs

MILWAUKEE -- Who said the Brewers could only score with home runs?
One day after Milwaukee tallied all three runs via solo homers in the series finale against the Twins, the Brewers generated four early runs over the first two innings without going deep on Braves left-hander Max Fried.
Jonathan Villar led off the first inning with a double, then stole third base and scored on Jesús Aguilar's sacrifice fly.

Milwaukee went on to win, 7-2, but the wackiness began with the bottom part of the Brewers' lineup in the second inning. Leading off, Hernán Pérez smacked his first triple of 2018 down the right-field line and Keon Broxton drew a walk. Tyler Saladino -- making his first appearance since May 29 after being sidelined by an ankle sprain -- slapped a single to right-center, driving in Perez to tie the game at 2.
Broxton and Saladino advanced on a double steal before Erik Kratz made enough contact with two strikes to chop a grounder past Fried and bring home Broxton.

Jhoulys Chacín continued the inning by drawing a five-pitch walk, an at-bat which ended on a wild pitch. Catcher Tyler Flowers recovered the ball and flipped it to Fried, who was in position to tag Saladino at the plate but couldn't hold on to the ball as Saladino slid around him.

Saladino stood back up and touched the plate to give the Brewers a 4-2 lead after two lively frames.
"Very good at-bats from the bottom of the lineup that inning," manager Craig Counsell said. "When we get that stuff, the big numbers on offense, they always coincide with the bottom of the lineup really producing. We saw it again tonight."
The Brewers did finally hit a home run when Perez went deep in the eighth inning, marking the 11th consecutive game in which Milwaukee has collected a homer.

Perez, who has been the Brewers' utility man for much of this season, finished a double shy of the cycle.
"I feel great when I do something like that and contribute to the team in a win," Perez said. "I hope I can do that a lot of times."