The Milwaukee Brewers began a demanding 17-day stretch with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
A five-run fifth inning, highlighted by home runs from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers, proved decisive.
Rookie left-hander Shane Drohan delivered six effective innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven.
The Brewers improved to 68-41, while the Angels dropped to 42-68, suffering their seventh loss in eight games.
Angels starter Ryan Johnson struggled, giving up five runs and six hits over 4 1/3 innings, including two home runs.
Brewers Manage Pitching Workload
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy acknowledged the challenge of managing young starters through a heavy schedule.
"It's a work in progress," Murphy said.
"It's a big part of it right now, especially when you have rookie starters and you have everybody exceeding their [innings] limits.
It's a delicate time."
To protect Drohan, who logged 36 innings in July, the Brewers pushed his start back from Wednesday to Friday.
"You think about July, and who were our difference-makers?" Murphy said.
"You've got to mention [Drohan] in the first breath."
The Brewers also activated left-handed reliever DL Hall from the injured list and expect starter Kyle Harrison to return next week.
"Any pitching help we can have right now is important," Murphy said.
Johnson was pulled in the fifth after allowing a two-run homer to Turang and walking two batters. Reliever José Fermin then surrendered Bauers' three-run shot.
"I felt like I was kind of battling and kind of just fell into a little bit of fatigue, tiredness and kind of got out of my rhythm and sync and especially in that last inning," Johnson said.
"It kind of just fell apart with the walks and just losing feel for really the whole zone."
Despite Johnson's 7.63 ERA this season, Angels manager Suzuki said they plan to keep him as a starter.
"I know what you're talking about," Suzuki said. "Right now we feel like his best option, our best option, is him as a starter."
Defensive mistakes also hurt the Angels, including an error and a misjudged fly ball by left fielder José Siri.
"It's frustration, obviously," Suzuki said. "There's a lot of good intentions in there with him, and sometimes frustration gets you.
You got to do your best to let things go quickly and move on."
