Peralta, Brewers shut down Braves
MILWAUKEE -- Before the Brewers played host to the Braves on Friday night, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke expressed confidence that young right-hander Wily Peralta would eventually settle in and fulfill the promise he showed while coming up through the farm system.
Peralta responded with one of the best outings in his brief major league career, holding Atlanta to two hits in seven scoreless innings while striking out five in Milwaukee's 2-0 victory over the Braves at Miller Park.
"This is the guy that we hoped we see," Roenicke said. "He really did a great job."
Peralta's scoreless outing was his first of the season and third of his career. He was helped by a couple of defensive plays that wiped out the threat of a big inning, which has plagued Peralta for much of the season.
The biggest play came in the fifth when Atlanta threatened Milwaukee's 1-0 lead. Peralta had held the Braves without a hit to that point, but B.J. Upton led off with a single and moved to second on Dan Uggla's flyout to the track in center.
Chris Johnson singled to put runners at the corners, and when Julio Teheran put down a sacrifice bunt attempt, Peralta made a quick move to get Upton at the plate for the inning's second out.
"He broke late on the play," Peralta (5-8) said. "When I saw that, I thought I had a chance to get him."
Norichika Aoki, rejoining the team after two days on paternity leave, ending the inning with a sliding catch of Andrelton Simmons' line drive to right.
Jean Segura added a much-needed insurance run with a home run -- his 11th of the season -- to lead off the fifth, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
That would be the extent of Milwaukee's offense. The Brewers had plenty of chances against Teheran (5-4), who gave up eight hits and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings.
"Even the home run I thought was a good pitch," Teheran said. "I felt good, I felt like I did my job. They just found a couple holes."
Milwaukee loaded the bases with nobody out in the first and took a 1-0 lead on Aramis Ramirez's sacrifice fly to right, but Carlos Gomez was picked off first and Juan Francisco popped out to third, letting Teheran off the hook.
Teheran got in trouble again when Aoki opened the third with a base hit to center and Segura beat out a bunt down the third-base line to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Francisco drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Logan Schafer ended the inning with a groundout.
"First inning, he minimized the damage," Braves manager Freddi Gonzalez said. "That's good to see a young pitcher do that and not panic."
Milwaukee went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners but the Braves' inability to mount any kind of offense against Peralta negated an otherwise good effort by Teheran.
"I saw good at-bats. We walked six times and we need to get some runs in that first column," Gonzalez said. "We just couldn't get that bloop single. You still see guys swinging the bats. Now we just need to get going on our winning ways again."
After Francisco Rodriguez worked a scoreless eighth, the Braves put the tying run on base with two walks off Jim Henderson, but the right-hander worked out of it and got Uggla to fly out to center for his 10th save of the season and first since suffering a hamstring injury on May 25.
NOTES: Aoki returned to the Brewers after his wife gave birth to a son. INF/OF Josh Prince was optioned back to Triple-A Nashville. ... Atlanta placed INF Ramiro Pena on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder and recalled INF Paul Janish from Triple-A Gwinnett. Janish arrived in time for the game but did not play Friday. ... Brewers RHP Donovan Hand will make his first major-league start Saturday.
