Hart has two hits in first action in over a month

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PHOENIX - Corey Hart went 2-for-3 last night in his first Major League exhibition game since his knee surgery a month ago. The two-time All-Star right-fielder doubled-and-singled in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-to-3 exhibition loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

There was a chance that Hart could have opened the regular season on the disabled list for the second straight year. But Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke eliminated that possibility on Monday, when he said Hart would be on the 25-man Opening Day roster. Milwaukee shortstop Alex Gonzalez continued his hot spring. He had three hits against the D-Backs, including a two-run homer. Gonzalez is now batting .463 in the Cactus League with five homers and 16 RBI’s. Left-hander Randy Wolf went four innings for the Brew Crew, giving up a run on two hits with five strikeouts. Amaury Rivas took the loss, after he gave up a three-run triple to Arizona’s Evan Frey in the eighth inning. Most of the Milwaukee starters played against the Diamondbacks. A team of mostly Double-“A” players lost to the Chicago Cubs 5-3 earlier yesterday. Starlin Castro hit a two-run homer off Brewers’ prospect Kyle Heckathorn. Scooter Gennett had three hits for Milwaukee, including an RBI double.

The Brewers are now 15-16-2 in spring games. They’ll play their final exhibition this afternoon against the D-Backs, and will then head north to open the regular season on Friday at Miller Park against Saint Louis. Infielder Travis Ishikawa earned Milwaukee’s final roster spot as the backup first baseman to Mat Gamel. Brooks Conrad was sent down to Triple-“A” Nashville.

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The Brewers have unveiled the first of five TV ads that feature Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The first ad came out yesterday. And it shows Rodgers making his familiar three-step drop in a rather unusual pitching delivery, while manager Ron Roenicke and general manager Doug Melvin look on. The Brewers say a new ad will be released every three weeks – and a number of Milwaukee players join Rodgers in the spots. They include Rodgers’ close friend Ryan Braun, both of whom were the M-V-P’s of their respective leagues in 2011. The ads were filmed in February, when Rodgers showed up at Spring Training in Phoenix. Chief operating officer Rick Schlesinger said the Brewer players clamored to be in the ads – and they enjoyed filming them a lot.

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