ATLANTA — Jonathan Villar’s run-scoring single in the 13th inning gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 3-2 victory over the Braves, sending Atlanta to another home loss Wednesday night.
Villar lined an 0-2 pitch into left field off Casey Kelly (0-2), who had been scheduled to start for the Braves on Saturday.
Instead, he wound up going four innings after the Braves used up their entire bullpen by the end of the ninth.
Atlanta dropped to 2-19 at Turner Field.
Kelly escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 12th but couldn’t do the same after Milwaukee did it again with no outs in the 13th. Martin Maldonado grounded into a force at home to give the Braves a brief reprieve, but Villar came through.
Michael Blazek (3-1) picked up the win for the second night in a row. Carlos Torres earned his first save.
Atlanta’s Gordon Beckham hit the first pinch-hit homer of his career — a two-run shot over the center-field wall that erased Milwaukee’s 1-0 lead in the sixth.
But Milwaukee made it 2-2 in the eighth. With one out, Jonathan Lucroy singled off Bud Norris, and Chris Carter followed with a double down the right-field line that sent Lucroy to third. With the infield back, Kirk Niewenhuis grounded out to second to bring home the tying run.
The Brewers pushed across their first run in the fifth without a hit off Atlanta starter Mike Foltynewicz. Keon Broxton walked, moved to second on Junior Guerra’s sacrifice, took third on a wild pitch and trotted home on Villar’s sacrifice fly to deep right-center.
Guerra went five scoreless innings, working around four hits and four walks. Foltynewicz lasted 5-2-3, giving up four hits and a run. Neither came close to factoring in the decision.
The announced crowd of 12,869 was the smallest of the season at Turner Field. There appeared to be less than 1,000 in the stands by the end of the 4-hour, 51-minute marathon.
TRAINING ROOM
Milwaukee right-handers Cory Knebel and Matt Garza both threw bullpen sessions before the game. Knebel has yet to pitch this season because of a left oblique injury, while Garza is on the 60-day disabled list with an ailing right lat muscle.
“They both did good,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They both got up and sat down and got up again. Garza basically threw three-type innings, Knebel threw two. They threw all their pitches, so the next step is to face hitters on Saturday.”
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Wily Peralta (2-5, 6.99) goes in the series finale Thursday. He is 1-1 with a 1.23 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta, which a far cry from his performance this season. Opponents are hitting .363 against him.
Braves: RHP Matt Wisler (2-3, 2.93) looks to add to his impressive showing in May, having allowed only six earned runs in 30 innings this month. He won in his only career appearance against the Brewers, a 5-3 triumph last July.