Nelson ventures into Crew’s ace role

MILWAUKEE — The Brewers’ best pitcher this season was one of their best hitters on Monday night, too. Jimmy Nelson delivered two hits and the game-winning RBI to back his own quality start in an 8-5 win over the Angels at Miller Park, further cementing Nelson’s status as a bright spot on Milwaukee’s struggling starting staff.

So the first question in the postgame scrum was, “Where to start? The pitching or the hitting?”

“That’s the first time I’ve gotten two hits in a game since I was, like, 15,” Nelson said. “So probably the hits.”

OK, start with the hits.

The Brewers were coming off their best offensive game of the season, a 14-run, 18-hit attack in Sunday’s win over the Marlins, but they were silenced through four innings Monday by Jered Weaver’s 83-mph fastball and diet of offspeed offerings. That changed in a four-run fifth, when the Brewers tied the game at 1-1 thanks to Angels left fielder Rafael Ortega’s error, then went ahead on Nelson’s “slash” single, his second hit of the game.

Nelson showed bunt, then pulled back the bat and swung away for a base hit to right field.

“It’s a play that we know is in everybody’s playbook,” Angels …

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