MILWAUKEE _ Bases loaded, none out in the 12th inning of a tie game. The Braves' Gordon Beckham needed to put the ball in play, preferably in the outfield and fairly deep.
He did that and then some.
Beckham's sacrifice fly to the center-field warning track drove in the decisive run in a 4-3 series-opening win against the Brewers on Monday night at Miller Park, the ninth win in 13 games for the Braves.
They had a chance to do more damage in the inning when Beckham's fly ball was dropped by center fielder Keon Broxton, allowing Beckham to reach first and the bases to remain loaded. But A.J. Pierzynski, who homered earlier, grounded to first base to start a 3-2-3 double play against former Braves reliever Blaine Boyer, and Chase d'Arnaud popped out to end the inning.
Broxton singled against Braves closer Jim Johnson with out in the 12th and stole second base, but Johnson struck out Martin Maldonado and induced a game-ending ground out by Ramon Flores to record his seventh save in his past eight appearances.
After giving up four runs in five innings to win his major league debut Wednesday against the Pirates, Braves rookie Rob Whalen pitched better and longer against the Brewers, working six innings and allowing five hits and three runs including a two-run homer by Martin Maldonado in the fifth inning for a 3-3 tie.
Whalen also collected his first major league hit, a fifth-inning single.
The rookie right-hander walked just one and struck out seven in his second major league start, after issuing four walks with five strikeouts against the Pirates. However, Whalen paid a price for his only walk, a free pass to Chris Carter to start the fifth inning. One out later, Maldonado homered and a two-run lead was gone.
Brewers counterpart Zach Davies was 4-0 with a 1.97 ERA in his past five starts before Monday, allowing two earned runs or fewer in each of those games and no homers in that span. Against the Braves, he gave up three runs and eight hits including homers by Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski.
Ender Inciarte extended his career-best hitting streak to 19 games for the Braves with a fifth-inning single, and revived Erick Aybar extended his streak to 13 games with an eighth-inning single.
Markakis snapped Davies' homerless streak with a solo shot in the second inning for the game's first run. It was Markakis' seventh home run and fifth in his past 27 games, and he's hit over .300 with 31 RBIs in 57 games since June 5.
The Brewers answered with a run in the bottom of the second when Hernan Perez hit a one-out single, stole second and scored on Keon Broxton's two-out single.
Whalen struck out the other three batters he faced in the second inning, and struck out Jonathan Villar to start the third, giving him six strikeouts in the first 10 batters he faced, including Villar twice.
The Braves reclaimed the lead with a run in the fourth on Matt Kemp's single through the right side of the infield, after a one-out double by Freddie Freeman that featured a creative slide by Freeman to avoid the tag going into second base, then a full extension of his long arm to reach for the base and avoid the tag again after over-sliding the base. He collided with the second-base umpire on the slide, slowing Freeman's momentum and probably preventing him from sliding too far past the base to be able to reach back.
Pierzynski's second home run of the season was a two-out solo shot that extended the Braves' lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning, before a leadoff walk and one swing by Maldonado tied the score in the bottom of the inning.
There were other scoring opportunities for the Braves, who grounded into inning-ending double plays in the fourth and sixth (Markakis both times) and against in the eighth (Freeman).
