Shaun Marcum pitched seven dominant innings and Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder each homered as the visiting Milwaukee Brewers cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday in the opener of a three-game set.
Yuniesky Betancourt added a solo homer and Carlos Gomez scored two runs for the Brewers (13-12), who moved back above .500 with the victory.
Marcum (3-1) struck out six and walked a pair while surrendering only three hits. The 29-year-old righthander has not allowed an earned run in three of his six starts since coming over from the Toronto Blue Jays in an offseason trade.
Marcum had all the support he would need before he even stepped on the mound. Braun and Fielder got to Astros starter Brett Myers for back-to-back solo homers in the top of the first. Braun’s blast was his major league-leading 10th of the season.
Braun and Fielder would each add RBI hits later in the game - with Fielder bumping his RBI total to a National League-leading 25.
Myers (1-1) allowed only five hits, but four of them ended up scoring runs for the Brewers. The burly righthander struck out eight in six innings.
Milwaukee | Houston | |
Shaun Marcum | Player | Brett Myers |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 6.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 8 |
3 | Hits | 5 |
0.00 | ERA | 6.00 |
Milwaukee | Houston | |
Prince Fielder | Player | Brett Wallace |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 2 |
.667 | Avg | 1.000 |