Brewer Daily News for September 7th: Braun calls fans, Crew loses

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Saturday edition of Brewer Daily News. Recently, Milwaukee Brewers’ suspended outfielder Ryan Braun has started to reach out to fans by calling them and apologizing for his use of PEDs. In the second bit of news, yesterday the Brewers (60-80) lost to the Chicago Cubs (60-80) at Wrigley Field.

Ryan Braun is trying to make amends with his fans. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Braun, 29, began to reach out to fans by phone calls soon after the release of his formal apology. Many of the fans were skeptical of the calls, thinking they were pranks, but the reaction seemed to be lukewarm from most. Braun’s teammates, including catcher Jonathan Lucroy and third baseman Aramis Ramirez supported the act.

"“I think it’s great,” said Lucroy. “I think [calling fans individually] would help out a lot. People from Milwaukee are pretty forgiving, for the most part, so I think that’s definitely a big step.” – via Brewers.com"

According to the front office, the idea to apologize to fans came directly from Braun himself. Since his suspension, Braun has lost multiple partnerships and endorsements, including his ties with the 8-Twelve restaurant that was also co-owned by Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Yesterday afternoon, the Brewers were the victims of an 8-5 loss to the Cubs. Kyle Lohse started for Milwaukee and was hammered, receiving his ninth loss. Lohse pitched five innings and surrendered seven runs on 11 hits, one walk and struck out three. Reliever Michael Blazek gave up one unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

For the Cubs, Chris Rusin made the start, but did not factor into a decision. Rusin only lasted 3 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits, two walks and struck out one before being pulled.

After Rusin, the Cubs went with Carlos Villanueva who picked up his fifth win by pitching a perfect 2 1/3 innings. Pedro Strop gave up three runs in an inning of relief while closer Kevin Gregg pitched a scoreless ninth inning to notch his 30th save.

The Brewers were down 5-0 before scoring in the second inning when Norichika Aoki hit a sacrifice fly scoring Jeff Bianchi. In the third, Aramis Ramirez hit a solo home run, his 10th. Rookie Scooter Gennett would also go yard with a three-run homer in the eighth, his sixth.

Today the teams will play in game two of the series at 4:05 p.m. ET / 3:05 p.m. CT. The projected starters are Johnny Hellweg (0-3, 10.97 ERA) for Milwaukee and Jake Arrieta (2-1, 3.77 ERA) for Chicago.