ATLANTA _ During this surprisingly competitive season, the Milwaukee Brewers have enjoyed a number of "happy flights."
That's what the players call a flight on getaway day, be it leaving home or departing from a city on the road. On such days in 2017, the Brewers have a 12-5 record, making travel more enjoyable.
The Brewers made sure they exited SunTrust Park with a victory, scoring early and often to cruise to a 7-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves, who were denied a sweep.
There seems to be one spot in the starting rotation that gets a ton of runs each season, and this year it has been on the days that Zach Davies pitches. This time, however, Davies could have gotten by with modest run support, thanks to his sharpest outing of the season.
Pitching past the sixth inning for the first time this year, Davies blanked the Braves over seven frames on four hits. It was a prime example of pitching to weak contact _ Davies allowed just one walk and did not strike out a batter.
Davies was upset with himself after allowing six runs in the first inning in his previous outing against Pittsburgh and vowed to come out with a renewed focus. And he lived up to that promise.
The Brewers usually fare best when they knock balls out of the park and that theme started early. With two down in the first, Travis Shaw hit a towering two-run homer to right that landed on the roof of a restaurant, the first ball to do so in the first year of Atlanta's new home.
It was the 15th homer of the season for Shaw, who padded his club-high total to 53 runs batted in.
Keon Broxton padded the lead to 3-0 with one swing of the bat in the second when he smashed a one-out, opposite-field drive to right for his 13thhomer of the season.
The Brewers switched to run-scoring hits in the third, adding three more runs to their lead. Hernan Perez ripped a run-scoring single to center and Broxton continued to do damage to right field with a two-run hit.
Domingo Santana's sacrifice fly in the fourth completed the scoring for the day.
