Tellez homers for 1st time in three months as Brewers beat Padres 7-3 for 6th straight win

MILWAUKEE — Rowdy Tellez isn’t accustomed to waiting this long between homers.

Tellez went deep for the first time since May 22 as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Diego Padres 7-3 on Friday for their season high-tying sixth straight victory. Tellez’s three-run shot capped a five-run third inning.

His 406-foot drive to center off a 1-1 curve from Yu Darvish (8-10) ended a career-high string of 128 straight at bats without a homer.

“It’s just nice to do that and help the team win,” Tellez said. “It helps out personally, too.”

Tellez added an RBI single in the seventh inning for his first multi-hit game since June 13.

This has been a difficult season for Tellez, who hit a career-high 35 homers last year. He entered Friday with a .679 OPS, down from .902 in early May. Tellez spent six weeks on the injured list – first with a right forearm issue and later with a fracture in his left ring finger – before getting activated last weekend.

Tellez acknowledged Friday the finger still bothers him at times.

“Some days it feels better than others,” Tellez said. “Some days it’s sore. Some days the dog steps on it or something”

Brandon Woodruff (3-1) struck out 11 and allowed only one run in six innings as the NL Central-leading Brewers (71-57) moved a season-high 14 games above .500.

The Brewers also won six consecutive games from April 1-7.

“I feel like we go through this every year,” said Woodruff, who lowered his ERA to 2.65. “We go through stretches where we don’t play good. ‘Well, what’s wrong?’ Then we hit this stretch here where we’re playing good. ‘Well, dadgumit, we’re good.’ We’re just playing good baseball.”