MILWAUKEE _ Most teams play better at home than on the road but the Milwaukee Brewers have taken that trend to an extreme during their 2016 rebuilding season.
The Brewers capped a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a 7-1 victory Wednesday afternoon at Miller Park, boosting their winning streak to four on the heels of a six-game losing streak on the road.
Led by Ryan Braun's two home runs and the gutsy starting pitching of Zach Davies, the Brewers boosted their record to 36-29 at home. Compare that to their 20-41 record on the road, worst in the major leagues, and commence scratching your head.
The plus-16 differential between wins at home and the road is the largest among the 30 clubs in the big leagues.
"Obviously, if we found a reason for it, we'd find a way to duplicate what we do at home on the road," said Braun, whose fourth-inning homer represented the Brewers' first run against tough Rockies starter Tyler Anderson.
"Hopefully, over time we're able to get better and better at finding ways to have success on the road, too."
One of the big reasons the Brewers swept Colorado was better relief pitching, but Davies (10-6, 4.06) did his part by allowing only one run while pitching in traffic for six innings. That lone blemish was a first-inning home run by Nolan Arenado, a premier player who refused to get jammed on an inside fastball and instead yanked it out of the park.
It was a needed turnabout for Davies, who struggled mightily in his previous two starts (12 earned runs in nine innings).
"It was definitely a positive, definitely a step forward," said Davies, who allowed five hits and three walks but also struck out eight. "I need to make sure I go back and look at this and work from there. I need to keep making steps forward."
The Brewers broke open the game with four runs in the seventh inning including a booming two-run homer to center by Braun off veteran reliever Chad Qualls. But manager Craig Counsell thought a key moment came in the sixth, when Orlando Arcia's run-scoring bunt hit stretched the Brewers' lead to 3-1.
With Hernan Perez on third base, Counsell put on the safety squeeze play. Both reliever Chris Rusin and catcher Tony Wolters went after Arcia's short bunt, and when Perez saw the plate vacated, he scooted home ahead of an attempted tag by Rusin.
"I had to make sure I saw the ball," said Perez, a heads-up player who is making a difference as the season has progressed. "As soon as I saw the catcher go to the ball, I went home."
Many players contributed to the victory, including relievers Blaine Boyer (one inning) and Tyler Cravy (two), who supported Davies to keep Colorado off the board after the first inning. But the one remaining star player during the team's rebuild, Braun, led the way by boosting his career total to 200 pitching victims of home runs.
When cleanup hitter Jonathan Lucroy was traded to Texas on July 31, there was reason to wonder how it would affect Braun, the No. 3 hitter. But he hasn't missed a beat, slugging 10 home runs in August with 28 runs batted in, second only to Arenado's 29 in the National League.
"The key is swinging at strikes," Braun said. "I think I've been OK at it but that's always the key for me. Also, the guys behind me are really swinging the bat well."
And, especially this year for the Brewers, it helps to play at home.
