Major League Baseball

Ramirez HR lifts Brewers by Jays

Published Jun. 18, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Aramis Ramirez has hit 323 home runs in his 15-year career. Monday night was the first time he started his trot around the bases from the on-deck circle.

Ramirez’s liner down the left-field line was ruled a home run after umpires reversed a foul ball call using video replay in the seventh inning that snapped a tie and lifted the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

He hit a 1-2 pitch off rookie Robert Coello (0-1) that hit the outside corner of a yellow pad below the foul pole but above the fence line. Third base umpire Paul Nauert ruled it a foul ball. He agreed to check video replay after discussing the play with Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke and third base coach Ed Sedar while watching a fan dramatically pound the pad in question.

Roenicke said he could tell by the sound of the ball hitting the wall that it struck padding. The pad is in front of a concrete wall, and there is exposed concrete to the left of the pad.

“I don’t know where the ball hit, but I heard pad,” he said. “What would have been a shame if you don’t go out there (to ask for a replay) or you don’t have replay and they see it a different way.”

Umpires spent about 90 seconds checking the replay, before returning and signaling a home run for Ramirez, who was watching in the on-deck circle and began his jog around the bases while fireworks went off at Miller Park.

“First time it ever happened to me,” Ramirez said. “They got it right and that’s what it’s all about.”

Ramirez said he thought it was a home run by the way the ball came off the wall.

“I thought it was a home run because if it had hit the (concrete) wall it would have come back a little harder,” Ramirez said. “It hit and it stayed right there, so that meant it hit the pad. So, I had a good idea it was fair.”

Kameron Loe (4-2) was credited with the win despite allowing Jose Bautista to hit a game-tying three-run home run in the top of the seventh. John Axford pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 15 chances.

The Blue Jays trailed 6-1 before rallying to tie the game.

“We had a very good offensive approach,” Toronto manager John Farrell said. “Even though we got down early, 6-2, we felt like we could swing the bats against Wolf - and that’s not to take anything away from him. “I thought we matched up well with him.”

Bautista’s homer was his 20th. Brett Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion also homered for Toronto, with Encarnacion’s traveling an estimated 463 feet and landing on Bernie Brewer’s slide in left field.

Ramirez also had a single and double, and finished with three RBIs for Milwaukee. Rickie Weeks had a pair of singles and two RBIs.

Lawrie, the Brewers first-round draft choice in the June 2008 free agent draft, made his Miller Park debut by hitting an 0-1 pitch from Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf for a homer to leadoff the game. Lawrie was traded to Toronto before the 2010 season for right-hander Shaun Marcum.

The Brewers made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first on a two-run single by Weeks off Toronto starter Henderson Alvarez.

Milwaukee took a 6-1 lead in the second on an RBI single by Norichika Aoki, an RBI ground out by Ryan Braun and a two-run double by Ramirez.

Toronto loaded the bases with no outs in the third against Wolf, but Encarnacion hit into a ground ball double play and the Blue Jays scored only one run to get within 6-2.

Encarnacion’s 18th homer of the year pulled Toronto to 6-3 in the sixth.

In the seventh, Omar Vizquel led off with a single. Loe was summoned with one out to face Lawrie, and got a fielder’s choice groundout. Colby Rasmus then walked and Bautista hit a 1-0 pitch into the left-field stands to tie the game at 6.

Alvarez continued to struggle, giving up six runs on 11 hits and two walks with one strikeout in four innings. In his last seven starts, the right-hander is 0-5 with a 6.29 ERA, allowing hitters to bat .350 (63-180).

Wolf pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out six. It was the third consecutive game and fourth in five starts that he left the game with the lead and the bullpen gave it up.

“I feel terrible about it,” Loe said. “He’s really been pitching well. In the last few outings he should have had wins.”

NOTES: Toronto RHP Kyle Drabek (4-7 with a 4.67 ERA in 13 starts) will undergo ulnar collateral ligament surgery on his pitching elbow Tuesday, the Blue Jays said. It will be the second time he has had the surgery. The first time was when he was in high school. . . . Marcum will miss his scheduled start Tuesday due to tightness in his right elbow. Marcum (5-3 with a 3.39 ERA in 13 starts) had ulnar collateral ligament surgery in 2008 when he pitched for Toronto. . . . Braun has a 13-game hitting streak.

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