Carter's 3-run shot carries Brewers past Braves
MILWAUKEE -- Chris Carter hit a three-run home run as the Milwaukee Brewers snapped the Atlanta Braves' four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Atlanta's Freddie Freeman went 3-for-3 with two homers and a walk. He hit solo shots in the fourth and eighth innings, each time drawing the Braves within a run of Milwaukee, which scored all of its runs in the fourth behind Carter's team-leading 26th home run of the season.
Freeman has 21 homers.
Chase Anderson (7-10) went 5 1/3 innings for Milwaukee and held the Braves to two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out three.
Tyler Thornburg worked a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the year and his third since assuming the closer role after Milwaukee traded Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith at the deadline.
Braves starter Joel De La Cruz (0-5) lasted only four innings because a knee injury. He was charged with all four Brewers runs, and he allowed seven hits and a pair of walks with two strikeouts.
An RBI single by Ender Inciarte put the Braves up 1-0 in the third, but the Brewers opened the bottom of the frame with three straight singles off De La Cruz, tying the game at 1.
Carter's three-run blast made it a 4-1 game.
Freeman got one run back for Atlanta in the fourth.
De La Cruz retiring the side in order in the bottom of the fourth but took a comebacker to the left leg by Orlando Arcia and was unable to finish the game.
NOTES: Braves RHP Julio Teheran will throw a bullpen session this week, and if all goes well, will follow with a minor league rehab start as he works his way back from a strained right lat that has sidelined him since Aug. 2. ... Atlanta RHP John Gant worked five innings and threw 70 pitches in a rehab start Wednesday, while C Tyler Flowers, out since July 10 with a broken left hand, is expected to rejoin the Braves next week. ... Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he was sad to learn that Prince Fielder's career was coming to an end. Fielder spent his first seven major league seasons in Milwaukee, where he and Counsell were teammates from 2007-2011. "I went through the same thing," Counsell said. "Same injury, same doctor, same surgeon. I know what he's going through and the pain he's experiencing. It's not fun. I really valued my time with him. I'm saddened by this news. It's not the way it should end for him."