As disappointing as the Milwaukee Brewers have been all season, a strong September could propel them to the same place they were at the end of last regular season: in the playoffs.
The Brewers won on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves 5-0, reaching .500 for the first time since April. The team also cut the wild card lead to just four games behind both the Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Marco Estrada pitched a strong game, including seven innings of no runs and only giving up four hits.
"We're playing great baseball and we know we have the team to go all the way," Estrada told the Associated Press. "A lot of people doubted us when we were down, but we didn't lose any confidence. We knew how well we could play."
Rickie Weeks and Aramis Ramirez homered for the Brewers, who won their eighth straight home game. The team has been surging recently, winning 17 of 22 games to get back into the wild card race.
"It is nice to get there, but is more important in the way we are playing right now," manager Ron Roenicke said. "Our pitching has been outstanding, we're getting clutch hits from a lot of different people and we are playing very good defense."
Estrada pitched well after he had a rough start against the Miami Marlins last Thursday.
"I felt very good out there tonight," he said. "I was really locked in and I had great defense behind me."
Last season the Brewers had a franchise-best record of 96-66 and won the National League Central. The team made it to the National League Championship Series but lost to the eventual World Series champs the Cardinals.
The Brewers made a number of spectacular defensive plays in the game, including an acrobatic catch from right fielder Norichka Aoki to save an extra base hit.
"I had to jump to get it because I am not as tall as everyone else," Aoki said through a translator. "We have a very good team and we've felt all along that we can win these games."
Tim Hudson pitched well for the Braves, only allowing a home run by Weeks until the seventh inning when things unraveled. Hudson finished with four strikeouts and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings of work.
"I thought I pitched better than giving up all those runs late," Hudson said. "Four runs seemed like a dozen the way their guys were throwing. It was just one of those games."
The Braves lost their second game in a row against the Brewers and are hoping to avoid a collapse for the second straight season. Entering September last year, the Braves had an 8 1⁄2-game lead in the Wild Card standings before going 9-18 and finishing outside of the playoffs.
The team they are tied with currently for the wild card, the Cardinals, was the team that caught them last year. St. Louis ended up winning the World Series after erasing the Braves' lead.
Yovani Gallardo (14-8) will pitch for the Brewers on Wednesday against Atlanta's Paul Maholm (12-9).
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