Brewer Daily News for June 23rd: Estrada rehabbing, Crew beats Braves

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Sunday edition of Brewer Daily News. For the Milwaukee Brewers, help is on the way as right-hander Marco Estrada is planning for a rehab assignment starting today that will have him back soon. Secondly, the Brewers (31-42) shut out the Atlanta Braves (43-33) yesterday afternoon for the second straight day.

Marco Estrada will look to be stronger once he returns to the 25-man roster. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Estrada is scheduled to make a start with Class A Wisconsin today, which will end his rehab stint. Earlier this month, Estrada was placed on the 15-day disabled list when he strained his left hamstring, but the injury overall wasn’t thought to be too serious.

"“We’ll see how it goes. If he still feels it in his leg, then we’ll maybe have to go another one,” manager Ron Roenicke said. – via Brewers.com"

This season, Estrada was slotted in as the number two in the rotation and had a record of 4-4 with an ERA of 5.32. Once Estrada is able to come back to the rotation, it’s unknown which of the spot starting relievers will go back to the bullpen.

Yesterday the Brewers shut out the Braves 2-0. Rookie Donovan Hand made his first major league start and did well, but did not receive a decision. Hand pitched 4 2/3 innings while giving up only two hits, one walk and struck out three. Burke Badenhop came in after Hand and pitched 1 1/3 innings while picking up his first win of the season. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless top of the ninth and acquired his sixth save of the season and the 300th of his career.

Tim Hudson started for the Braves and fared well, but received his seventh loss of 2013. Hudson pitched six innings while giving up two runs, seven hits, four walks and struck out four. David Carpenter and Alex Wood pitched a combined two innings of scoreless relief for Atlanta.

In the fourth inning, the Brewers struck for their first run when Juan Francisco hit a single scoring Aramis Ramirez. In the fifth inning, Ramirez, who went 3-for-4 in the game, hit a single that scored Norichika Aoki. The team left 11 runners on base while going 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Rookie Caleb Gindl stole his first major league base in the sixth.

Today the Brewers will look to sweep the Braves at 2:10 p.m. ET / 1:10 p.m. CT. The projected starters are Alfredo Figaro (1-1, 3.88 ERA) for Milwaukee and Paul Maholm (7-6, 3.57 ERA) for Atlanta.