Brewers beat Dodgers but Lucroy out 4-6 weeks due to freak accident at hotel

• Milwaukee Brewers

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MILWAUKEE - The Brewers ended a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in LA last night.

Aramis Ramirez put the Brewers in front for good in the sixth inning with an RBI-single that scored Norichika Aoki, who had reached on a throwing error. Ramirez also hit a solo homer, and Rickie Weeks drove in a run with a sacrifice fly as the Brewers won their third game in their last five. Andre Ethier gave the Dodgers an early lead with a run-scoring double in the first inning. LA was down by two runs in the eighth when ex-Brewer Jerry Hairston Junior drove in the game’s final run with a single to left. Shaun Marcum got the win, evening his record to 3-3. Marcum struck out nine in seven innings, giving up a run on six hits and a pair of walks. John Axford stranded the tying run on second in the ninth, while getting his eighth save. Aaron Harang took the loss, giving up three runs – one earned – in five-plus innings. He’s now 3-3. Milwaukee won its sixth game in its last eight against the Dodgers.

The Brewers are now 9-15 on the road, while the Dodgers fell to 21-6 at home this season. The two teams will play again tonight at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers’ right hander Nathan Eovaldi was called up from Double-“A” Chattanooga to make the start, after Ted Lilly put on the DL yesterday with an inflamed shoulder. Right-hander Michael Fiers will make his Brewers’ debut after being called up from Triple-“A” Nashville.

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The Milwaukee Brewers lost their hottest hitter for 4-to-6 weeks due to a freak accident in his Los Angeles hotel room on Sunday night. Jonathan Lucroy suffered a “boxer’s fracture” on his right throwing hand. He was reaching under his bed for a sock when his wife was moving things around in a suitcase, and it fell onto his hand. Lucroy started batting practice yesterday when he failed to get a proper grip. X-rays revealed the injury. Lucroy becomes the seventh current Brewer on the disabled list – and the third since their current Western trip began last Friday night in Arizona. Shortstop Cesar Izturis strained a hamstring, and first baseman Travis Ishikawa landed on the DL with a strained oblique muscle. But the loss of Lucroy is especially hard for the Brew Crew, because of his hot stretch at the plate. He had the National League’s third-highest batting average in May at .388. And Lucroy is Milwaukee’s best clutch-hitter this season, hitting .514 with runners-in-scoring position. The Brewers called up catcher Martin Maldonado from Triple-“A” Nashville after the game. With back-up George Kottaras playing through a bad hamstring, manager Ron Roenicke says Maldonado will do most of the catching for awhile. Also, the Brewers called up right-hander Michael Fiers – and he’ll make his first big league start tonight against the Dodgers in LA.

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Current Brewers’ utility infielder Brooks Conrad was named the Player-of-the-Week yesterday in the Triple-“A’s” Pacific Coast League. He batted .417 for the Nashville Sounds last week with five homers and 15 RBI’s. That was after Conrad was sent down following a stint with the Brewers earlier this month in which he went 0-for-21. Milwaukee called him back up yesterday, after they put Travis Ishikawa on the disabled list. Conrad said he made an adjustment in his first at-bat in his most recent stint at Nashville. Sounds’ hitting coach Al LeBoeuf noticed that Conrad was not holding his hands the same as he did when he started the season at Nashville. He had a 16-game hitting streak before being called up the first time. Conrad says he hopes his recent adjustment will help with in his new stint with the Brew Crew.

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The Milwaukee Brewers will try to end a string of four consecutive losing series tonight when they play the Dodgers in Los Angeles. It’s a four-game set – but after a 3-2 victory on Memorial Day, another win would assure the Brewers of at least a split. Milwaukee has won six-of-its-last-eight contests against the Dodgers. But LA manager Don Mattingly felt frustrated by an umpire’s apparent blown call, which led to Milwaukee’s winning run in the sixth inning last night. Dodgers’ pitcher Aaron Harang was charged with an error when his throw to first on a dribbler pulled first baseman James Loney off the bag. But T-V replays seemed to show that Loney had a foot on the bag when he stretched to get the throw. Two Milwaukee runs followed. Mattingly said he had a good view of the play – and first base umpire Todd Tichenor turned down his request to ask the other umpires for help. Loney said he was sure his foot was on the bag, but Tichenor said he was 100-percent sure it wasn’t. The Dodgers’ manager said Tichenor should have asked his fellow umpires for help, in the interest of getting the call right. Mattingly said quote, “You get tired of being diplomatic.”

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Both the Brewers and Dodgers will call up pitchers from the minors to start tonight. Right-hander Michael Fiers is being called up from Triple-“A” Nashville, while the Dodgers are calling up right-hander Nathan Eovaldi from Double-“A” Chattanooga. Fiers replaces Marco Estrada, who was put on the disabled list last week. Eovaldi replaces Ted Lilly, who was put on the Dodgers’ DL yesterday with an inflamed shoulder.

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Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke says his team is using the same training-and-stretching techniques as a year ago, when Milwaukee had very few injuries on its way to a division title. He was asked about the subject last night, after Jonathan Lucroy was put on the disabled list with a right hand he broke when a suitcase landed on it during a freak accident in his hotel room. Roenicke said there’s nothing that could be done to prevent that – but he said the hamstring, quadriceps, and shoulder pains can be avoided with the players’ maintenance program. And the skipper says it’s being followed exactly the same way as last year. Milwaukee has seven players on the disabled list – Lucroy, Cesar Izturis, Travis Ishikawa, Marco Estrada, and three players out for the year – Chris Narveson, Mat Gamel, and Alex Gonzalez. Roenicke says he doesn’t shake his head over the latest injury news because quote, “I’d be shaking it every day.”

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