Ryan Braun ends HR drought with a doozy

June 4, 2011 (Saturday)

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Call it the Jewish Baseball News curse.

Last month, we reported that Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun was leading the National League with 12 HRs and dared to speculate whether he might become the first Jewish home-run king since Cleveland Indians 3B Al Rosen in 1953.

Braun, 27, didn’t hit another HR in the next 16 games, a period during which he fell from 1st to 3rd behind Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce (17 HRs) and the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp (13 HRs). Jewish Baseball News hung its head.

But on Friday (6/2/2011), Braun broke out of his HR slump with a flourish, smashing a pinch-hit, 2-run shot in the 9th inning to defeat the Florida Marlins 6-5 (see video).

“Brauny came up with a big pinch-hit home run off a closer who’s having a good year,” Brewers pitcher Randy Wolf told MLB.com. “That’s a huge win for us. We know that this Marlins team is a very talented young team that’s capable of winning games. To come back and sneak a win here was big for us.”

Braun had been on the bench nursing a sore shoulder when he was called in to pinch-hit.

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