[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 23-9, 1st place, MGL (season)

May 8-9, versus Baltimore: 5-9, 4-3.

May 10-12, at Charlotte: 7-6, 7-6, 3-1.

May 13-14, versus Portland: 2-5, 2-0.

Well, it was inevitable that John Weaver (3-1, 2.53) couldn't keep up his dominance season long and it was in the second game against the Baltimore Lords that things fell apart a bit. But really it was just one poor inning- the 5-run 4th- that doomed him. Bobby Erbakan hit his 4th homer in this one and Val Guzman his 1st (and also his 5th double.)
But the Brewers get the win in the rubber match to move back into a first place tie with the Lords. Another fine start from Sadahige Kawasaki (4-2, 2.05), who works 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. Tim Shore gets his 3rd save. Brett Taranto leads the offense with a 2 for 4 day, hitting his 4th double and 1st triple of 1977.

Tuesday's game was rained out in Charlotte, setting up a double-header that the Brewers won both ends of in interesting fashion, and with identical final scores.
Trailing 6-1 going into the 9th in the first game they slugged 3 homers in the inning to get the 7-6 lead which they did not relinquish. Josh Schaeffer got it started with a 2-out 3-run bomb. Val Guzman, next up, made it back-to-back jacks. And finally Joe McPhillips hit a 2-run shot to give the Brewers the lead, Joe's first long ball of the season. Ben Flynn (4-1, 2.31) didn't have his best outing of the season, but he did get the win, hit a single, and scored a run. Tim Shore got save number 4.
The nightcap was a back-and-forth affair that went into extras tied at 6-6. Bobby Erbakan's 10th inning solo homer (his 5th HR of the season) was the difference maker. Jake DiCesare was the POTG though, as the rookie third baseman went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 4 RBI, hitting his 3rd double and 2nd home run. Tim Shore (2-1, 4.66) worked 2 innings, blowing the save in the 9th but holding on for the win in the 10th.

The Brewers then returned home to take on the 5th place (tied with L.A.) Portland Wild Things. Portland's strength this season has been their pitching as they come into the series with the best starting pitching and bullpen ERA's and second in the league in runs allowed (behind Denver.) And sure enough they did cool off the Brewers bats in the first 2 games of the series as Denver could only manage 2 runs each game.
In the first game that led to a loss as John Weaver (3-2, 2.82) suffered his second loss of the week, working 6 1/3rd, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. Ben Flynn allowed 2 runs in his 2 innings pitched at the end of the game.
But in game 2, with Sadahige Kawasaki (5-2, 1.76) continuing his dominance, working 8 innings of scoreless 4-hit ball (7 K, 2 BB), and getting a 9th-inning assist from Eric Marino and Tim Shore, who wriggled out of a jam to earn his 5th save, the Brewers get the shutout victory. Brett Taranto collected 2 of the 5 hits for the Brewers.