Brewers 7, Braves 0: Zach Davies pitches seven shutout innings and bats strike early

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

ATLANTA – During this surprisingly competitive season, the Milwaukee Brewers have enjoyed a number of “happy flights.”

That’s what the players call a flight on getaway day, be it leaving home or departing from a city on the road. On such days in 2017, the Brewers have a 12-5 record, making their travel more enjoyable.

The Brewers made sure they exited SunTrust Park with a victory Sunday afternoon, scoring early and often to cruise to a 7-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves, who were denied a sweep.

Manager Craig Counsell wasn't aware of his team's exact getaway-day record but said, "I hear 'happy flight' a lot. That's how I know."

There seems to be one spot in the starting rotation that gets a ton of runs each season, and this year it has been on the days that Zach Davies pitches (5.56 runs per game). This time, however, Davies could have gotten by with modest run support, thanks to his sharpest outing of the season.

Pitching past the sixth inning for the first time this year, Davies blanked the Braves over seven frames on four hits. Davies was upset after allowing six runs in the first inning in his previous outing against Pittsburgh and vowed to come out with renewed focus.

"My goal for the game was to try to go after weak contact," Davies said.

Mission accomplished. Not only did Davies issue just one walk, he did not strike out anyone. That's what you call pitching to contact.

"It was an outing where you felt like he was in control," Counsell said. "For the most part, he was ahead of hitters. He had them off-balance all day. It's great to get him on track. To have an outing where he can walk out with a big smile on his face is a real plus for him and makes him feel good about going forward."

BOX SCORE:Brewers 7, Braves 0

NOTES:Keon Broxton has gone on offensive binge

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules

The Brewers usually fare best when they knock balls out of the park and that theme started early. With two down in the first, Travis Shaw hit a towering two-run homer to right that landed on the roof of a restaurant, the first ball to do so in the first year of Atlanta’s new home.

It was the 15th homer of the season for Shaw, who padded his club-high total to 53 runs batted in.

"That was probably the second-best ball I've hit this year," said Shaw, who knocked one off the facing of the third deck at Miller Park against St. Louis. "Zach pitched unbelievable and the offense continued to roll for the first few innings. That's all we needed today."

Keon Broxton padded the lead to 3-0 with one swing of the bat in the second when he smashed a one-out, opposite-field drive to right for his 13th homer of the season.

The Brewers switched to run-scoring hits in the third, adding three more runs to their lead. Hernán Pérez ripped a run-scoring single to center and Broxton continued to do damage to right field with a two-run hit.

"We had two outs and nobody on, and we put together five at-bats that were outstanding," Counsell said. "Most of it was with two strikes. That's one of our better innings of the year."

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

* Davies collected the first extra-base hit of his career when he led off the fourth with a double into the left-field corner. At that point, Braves starter Julio Teheran was given the hook.

* Orlando Arcia fouled off a pitch in the eighth inning that caromed off the ground and his shin guard and struck him above the left eye. He went down on one knee and was attended to but remained in the game.

STAT SHEET

* Arcia is batting .328 (41 for 125) over his last 35 games since May 18, raising his batting average from .206 to .268.

*It was the Brewers' largest margin of victory on the road this year.

TAKEAWAY

The Brewers have a way of avoiding sweeps, which is why they’ve stayed in first place for so long in the NL Central. They have been swept just once this season, and that was in a two-game interleague series at home against Toronto on May 23-24.

"That's been our identity all year," Shaw said. "We try to not get into big lulls. Today was another example of that."

RECORD

This year: 41-37 (21-22 home; 20-15 away)

Last year: 35-43

NEXT GAME

Tuesday: Brewers at Reds, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (1-1, 3.11) vs. Cincinnati RHP Tim Adleman (4-4, 4.30). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: 620-AM.