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Cameron's homer, McClung's strong start help Brewers avoid sweep
Our look at the Brewers' 4-2 victory over the Twins Sunday at Miller Park:
FIVE HITS
• Mike Cameron had a chance to deliver a Brewers victory Saturday night with Prince Fielder on third base and two outs in the 10th inning, but he grounded out to the pitcher. Maybe he just needed it to be Father's Day to provide the winning margin.
On a day when Major League Baseball tried to increase awareness of prostate cancer — Cameron's father was diagnosed with the disease last year — he gave the Brewers the lead with a sixth-inning home run.
Each home run hit Sunday meant a donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation Home Run Challenge.
"I guess today was double victorious for me," Cameron said.
With the Brewers trailing 2-1 and after a Russell Branyan leadoff walk, Cameron lifted an 0-1 pitch from Scott Baker (2-2) into the Brewers' bullpen in left field.
"It turns out it was a big two runs," Cameron said. "It was just good to be involved and do something positive and help the team get a victory with Seth (McClung) pitching a good game like he did today."
• The Brewers have seen a different side of McClung since he moved out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation late last month, and Yost likes it.
"He's been very impressive because he's changed his style a little bit from anything that we've ever seen from him in the pen," Yost said. "He is on the attack, he's working fast, he's trying to pitch to contact with good stuff, and he's doing it."
McClung (4-3) allowed four hits and two runs in six innings, an outing in which he faced the minimum through 4 2/3 innings.
The right-hander, who came to the Brewers in a trade with Tampa Bay last July, said he feels more comfortable with the Brewers than he did with the Rays, and his recent outings have shown he's more comfortable starting than relieving.
"The role I was in in the bullpen is very hard," McClung said. "I feel for anybody who's in the long-man role because you're doing seven days, nine days, three days, two days, back-to-back. It was tough. The consistency for me, I think, has come with maturity, and I guess you could attribute it to the five-day routine as well."
• McClung smacked his first career double in the second inning, giving pitchers three doubles in the series. Minnesota's Kevin Slowey had one on Friday, and Milwaukee's Jeff Suppan answered Saturday.
McClung improved his average to .333 with his 1-for-2 effort, although it could have been better if he had been able to get down a bunt in the fourth inning before striking out on a sacrifice attempt.
"Dumb me trying to make him bunt his second time up," Yost said.
• When Baker recorded four strikeouts in the third inning, it was the 50th time in major league history that feat has been accomplished, according to records at baseball-almanac.com. He was the first Twins pitcher to do so.
Baker got Ryan Braun swinging to open the inning, then got Prince Fielder swinging on a ball in the dirt that got past catcher Mike Redmond, allowing Fielder to reach.
The right-hander recovered to get Branyan and Cameron looking.
It was the fourth time in the last seven seasons that the Brewers have struck out four times in an inning. The others: Kerry Wood of the Cubs on Sept. 2, 2002; Brad Lidge of the Astros on June 13, 2004; and Mike Stanton of the Mets on Aug. 3, 2004.
• Brendan Harris thought he had been granted timeout by home plate umpire Brian Runge, but it turned into a called third strike and eventually into an ejection for his manager.
Harris made a hand motion to Runge and backed out after he had already called time seconds earlier in the eighth inning. Runge never motioned for Brewers pitcher Guillermo Mota to stop a second time, however, and Runge rang up Harris when Mota delivered a strike.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire came out of the dugout to argue for his shortstop, but he ended up getting tossed.
Mota then struck out the next two batters to record a 1-2-3 inning, despite the delay.
"He's veteran enough to not let that affect him," Yost said.
FROM THE DUGOUT
• When Mike Cameron took off for home with the pitch on an apparent one-out squeeze attempt in the fourth inning Saturday night, batter Jeff Suppan looked as surprised as anyone.
Suppan, the Brewers' starting pitcher, dropped the bat at the last minute and fouled off the pitch. He eventually flied out, and Corey Hart followed with the third out to leave the bases loaded.
Brewers manager Ned Yost said third-base coach Dale Sveum makes the call on the squeeze, but it appears that Suppan didn't get the sign, and neither Sveum nor Cameron knew because there was no sign of acknowledgement needed.
"We might have to review that," Yost said.
• One day removed from his last start, Brewers right-hander Dave Bush made the last out of the game in the 12th inning Saturday as a pinch-hitter in the pitcher's spot.
Yost said he was going to use J.J. Hardy, the last position player available, in that spot before the Twins put up five runs in the top of the 12th and the first two Brewers hitters of the bottom half recorded outs.
Hardy has been nursing a strained rotator cuff, and Yost said he is being cautious with the shortstop. He'll be re-evaluated after Monday's off day.
"We're trying to get him strong," Yost said. "He feels much better. He worked his shoulder really, really hard yesterday. I was going to use him to hit in the 12th if the game was still reasonably close."
• Hernan Iribarren has been a center fielder at Class AAA Nashville this season, but his roots are at second base so Yost had no qualms putting him on the infield Sunday.
"It's like riding a bike. If you ride a bike and then all of a sudden get off it for a while, do you get uncomfortable when you get back on again?" Yost said. "He's done it his whole life."
• Yost used the opportunity of a game before an off day to give right fielder Corey Hart an extended rest and start Gabe Kapler in right field.
"He's not going to get many of them," Yost said of off days for Hart.
Hart was 0-for-6 with two strikeouts and a costly outfield error on Saturday.
• Two hours before Sunday's Father's Day game, Brewers players took the field to play catch with and to lob pitches to their children.
PREGAME NOTES
• Hernan Iribarren makes his first career major league start for the Brewers today. He'll hit in the leadoff spot against Twins right-hander Scott Baker and play second base. Gabe Kapler is in right field, hitting second. Russell Branyan is hitting fifth at third base. This is the 10th straight game in which the Brewers have used a different lineup.
• Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun needs one RBI over his next five games to become the fastest player to reach 150 career RBIs since the Red Sox's Walt Dropo did it from 1949 to 1951. Braun has 149 RBIs in 180 career games.
• Since he joined the Brewers on May 25, Branyan leads the National League in slugging percentage (.800) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.200). He's tied for third in the league in home runs in that time with seven, including a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning Saturday night.
• Minnesota is 3-2 in Interleague play this season; the Brewers are 0-5.
• After an off day Monday, the Brewers resume Interleague play Tuesday against Toronto. Left-hander Manny Parra (5-2, 4.66 ERA) is scheduled to throw against Blue Jays righty Dustin McGowan (5-4, 3.92).
Morry Gash/Associated Press
Brewers center fielder Mike Cameron (25) is congratulated by Jason Kendall (18) in front of Twins catcher Mike Redmond after hitting a two-run home run Sunday.
