Brewers dampen Braves’ spirits with sweep

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ATLANTA — Ryan Braun and Jonathan Villar homered as the Brewers added to the Braves’ home woes and completed their first three-game series sweep of the season with Thursday night’s 6-2 win at Turner Field.

Brewers starting pitcher Wily Peralta surrendered two runs over 5 2/3 innings and improved his meager career batting average with a game-tying, two-run single in the fourth off Matt Wisler, who also surrendered Braun’s go-ahead home run in the fifth inning. Milwaukee won three consecutive games only one previous time this year.

“After that homer in the first inning, I was able to settle down and fight,” said Peralta. “It gave me a chance to get a win.”

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Tyler Flowers’ two-run home run in the first inning accounted for the only support provided to Wisler, who allowed three earned runs over six innings. The Braves stranded 27 runners and went 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position, while totaling five runs during this three-game series that left them 2-20 at home.

“It’s just one of those things where you just keep grinding, keep working and show up tomorrow and hopefully that’s the day it turns,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

The Amazing Jonathan: Brewers leadoff hitter Villar was a thorn in the side of the Braves all series long. Villar batted .417 in the three games (5-for-12) and the later it got in the game, the better he played. The shortstop manufactured the game-winning run in the eighth inning Tuesday night, drove in the winner in the 13th on Wednesday, then on Thursday, blasted his second home run of the year in the seventh, which served as a key insurance run, and scored on the back end of Hernan Perez’s two-run pinch-hit triple that put the game away.

“He’s hot right now and he’s been able to get good swings on the ball in big situations,” said catcher Jonathan Lucroy of Villar. “So it’s nice to have that guy in the lineup picking us up.”

More RISP woes: The Braves have batted .075 (4-for-53) with runners in scoring position over their past seven …

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