by TOM HAUDRICOURT, Staff, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

One of the best hitters in the major leagues against left-handed pitchers of any stature, Braun has more than held his own against Santana, who certainly qualifies as one of the top southpaws in the big leagues.

"I've always been comfortable against left-handed pitchers," said Braun, who is batting .441 against them this season.

"Johan is one of the best. I enjoy competing against pitchers like that."

Braun enjoyed it to the tune of three hits and four runs batted in Tuesday night, leading the Brewers to a 6-3 victory over the Mets at Miller Park that gave Burns his first major-league victory.

Burns, who has bounced around to five organizations over the past five seasons, got the better of his matchup with Santana thanks to Braun's ability to put tough pitches in play. By the end of the night, Braun was 7 for 12 (.583) for his career against Santana, who beat the Brewers , 1-0, earlier in the season in New York.

"He's having a great year against lefties," said manager Ken Macha, whose first-place club pulled two games ahead of St. Louis in the National League Central. "Regardless of the count, he's a good hitter."

Braun, who singled with two outs and nobody on in his first at-bat against Santana in the first inning, had the opportunity for bigger damage in the third. Corey Hart led off with a sharp single to center and J.J. Hardy followed with a hit through the left side of the infield.

Braun then ripped a 0-1 fastball up the middle for a run-scoring hit that cut the Mets' lead to 2-1.

Santana committed a pitching sin by walking Burns on four pitches with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Hart lofted a towering fly to left-center and centerfielder Fernando Martinez, after a long run, stopped to make the catch, only to slip and fall when the turf give way beneath him. As Martinez went tumbling to the ground the ball dropped safely for a double that put runners on second and third.

After Hardy drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen went to the mound. Beyond calming his pitcher, Warthen wanted to give home-plate umpire Jim Wolf an earful about his strike zone, which earned Warthen an early shower.

Santana has one of the best changeups in the game and threw two that Braun waved at, to get ahead in the count, 0-2. When Santana went to the well one more time with another changeup, Braun lined it over leftfielder Gary Sheffield's head to clear the bases.

"His changeup is so deceptive; it looks like a fastball until the last minute," Braun said.

"I let that last one get a little deeper. I tried not to strike out in that situation. I was able to get the barrel on it, and it ended up being a big hit for us."

Braun continued to third as shortstop Alex Cora's relay got away from catcher Omir Santos. When Braun took a wide turn at the bag, Santana retrieved the ball and fired over third baseman David Wright's head, allowing Braun to score and complete the four-run play.

"When you face a great pitcher like that, you need a break or two," Braun said. "Their guy falling down, the error, all those things came back to haunt them. Johan is not going to make too many mistakes and give up too many runs, so you have to take advantage of every mistake they make."

Asked how one hitter can have so much success against Santana, Braun said, "It's nearly impossible. I doubt there are too many guys who have had any type of prolonged success against him.

"You just go up there and battle and compete on every pitch. That's what we did as a team. We put together some good at-bats and had a couple of situations where we had guys on base and were able to get some big hits."

PREVIEW

Opponent: N.Y. Mets

When: 1:05 p.m. today

Where: Miller Park

Television: FSWis Radio: AM-620

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