Braves 4, Brewers 2

ATLANTA – Jaret Wright won his ninth straight decision and J.D. Drew hit a go-ahead homer to help the Atlanta Braves beat Ben Sheets and the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.

Andruw Jones and Johnny Estrada also connected off Sheets (9-9), who struck out 13 after fanning 18 Braves during a game in May. Atlanta improved to 20-6 since the All-Star break.

Sheets, who ranks among the NL leaders in ERA and strikeouts, fell to 0-4 in six starts since the break.

The Braves won two of three from Milwaukee and have not lost a series in almost two months. They are 12-0-2 in their last 14 series since dropping two of three at Florida June 22-24.

On May 16 in Milwaukee, Sheets struck out 18 Braves batters and allowed only three hits in a complete-game 4-1 win. Wright took the loss in that game. Wright also lost his next start, falling to 2-5, but has been unbeatable since.

In the rematch, Wright (11-5) gave up four hits and two runs, one earned, in seven innings. Chris Reitsma struck out two in a scoreless eighth, and John Smoltz got three outs for his 28th save in 30 opportunities.

Wright improved to 10-2 in night games with a 1.81 ERA, best in the majors.

Sheets pitched eight innings and got his final eight outs on strikeouts.

The Brewers gave Sheets a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an unearned run. With the bases loaded on walks to Lyle Overbay and Chris Magruder, sandwiched around a double by Brady Clark, Chad Moeller hit a one-out fly ball to Drew in right field.

Drew made the catch and threw a perfect, one-hop strike to the plate. Drew’s throw beat Overbay by several feet, but Estrada dropped the ball for an error, allowing Overbay to score.

Estrada made up for that with a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. The homer, Estrada’s seventh, drove in Drew, whose double was the Braves’ second hit of the game.

Milwaukee’s Geoff Jenkins led off the sixth with his 18th homer, a 405-foot shot to center, to tie the game.

The Braves went back to the long ball in the sixth. After Marcus Giles led off the inning with a drive that Milwaukee center fielder Brady Clark caught one step in front of the wall, Drew sent a 445-foot homer to right for a 3-2 lead.

Drew leads the Braves with 26 homers.

Jones pushed the lead to 4-2 with his 18th homer in the seventh. He finished with three hits.

Notes: Drew’s shot matched the seventh-longest homer in Turner Field history. … Overbay, who leads the Brewers with 56 walks, walked in his first two at-bats. … Estrada’s homer was his first since July 31. … Brewers manager Ned Yost benched Scott Podsednik and instead started Magruder, who had the go-ahead homer against the Braves on Tuesday night. … Russell Branyan was 0-for-4 as the Brewers’ cleanup hitter.

AP-ES-08-12-04 2217EDT