It's not often that Yuniesky Betancourt's name is mentioned in the same breath as Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun. But such was the case Sunday when Betancourt hit a a key two-run home run in the Brewers' 9-6 victory over St. Louis in Game 1 of the National League Championship series at Miller Park.

The home run itself wasn't nearly as notable as the manner in which it came. Betancourt, a notorious free-swinger, worked Cardinals reliever Octavio Dotel fouled off four straight pitches before hitting his first career post-season home run.

"I would say it was my best at-bat of the season, but I was just trying to do my job, trying to move the runner over," Betancourt said through the help of an MLB translator. "The pitcher hung it a little bit and I did my job."

From the moment he came to Milwaukee in the trade that landed former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke, Betancourt has been Public Enemy No. 1.

Before he even put on a Brewers uniform, sports radio callers, posters to internet message boards and even just casual fans having casual conversations in bars, restaurants and work places were almost unanimous in their belief that Betancourt was the worst shortstop in the history of Major League Baseball.

His performance through much of the season did little to temper those cries. He hit just .252 during the regular season, a number that would have been far worse were it not for a torrid stretch in July and August during which he hit .281 with four home runs and 22 RBIs. His penchant for making outs on the first pitch drove fans nuts and his 21 errors – the most by a National League shortstop – just added to the angst within Brewers Nation.

"Yuni is a little inconsistent sometimes with his at-bats, sometimes you get frustrated with him with the first-pitch out, but he can turn it around," Roenicke said.

Still, lacking a viable alternative, Betancourt entered the playoffs as the starter and as painful as it will be for some to admit it, it's a good thing he did. Betancourt hit .278 with a double and five runs against Arizona in the NLDS.

His home run Sunday was the highlight of a 2-for-4 day and the exclamation mark to a six-run outburst that came before the Brewers recorded an out in the inning.

Four of those runs came on two consecutive pitches. Corey Hart led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on Jerry Hairston, Jr.'s double into the left-field corner. That brought up Braun who sent a Jamie Garcia slider to the opposite field for a ground-rule double, and cut the Cardinals lead to 5-4.

Garcia, the Cardinals' starter, stayed in the game to face Fielder. The battle of lefties began with another slider that Fielder drove to right, putting the Brewers ahead, 6-5.

"That was probably one of the hardest-hit balls I've ever seen," said Braun, who went 2-for-4 with a home run in the first inning, two runs scored and four RBIs. The MVP candidate is hitting .500 (11-for-22) during the playoffs with two home runs, five doubles and eight RBIs.

Milwaukee's offensive explosion nullified a somewhat shaky outing by Greinke. The right-hander put the Brewers behind, 1-0, in the first inning and after Braun gave Milwaukee the lead with his two-run shot in the bottom of the inning, Greinke surrendered a three-run home run to David Freese in the third to make it a 4-2 game.

Still, he worked into the sixth, and picked up his first postseason victory and stayed perfect at Miller Park (12-0) despite allowing six runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and two uncharacteristic walks – both of which led to St. Louis runs. 

"The walks hurt him," Roenicke said. "The walk to (Yadier) Molina before the homer, that's a bad walk. We've got to be able to get the guys out that – not necessarily out, but you don't want to put them on on a free pass.

That's unlike Zack. Usually he doesn't walk too many guys. But I still, I like the way he threw the ball. Fastball command was very good. And I thought the breaking balls he kept down in the zone except the one to Freese. That's just a first pitch hanger, and he squared it up and was able to carry out of here."

With Greinke done, Roenicke turned to his bullpen to close things out. Takashi Saito worked out of a jam in the seventh by getting Albert Pujols to ground into a double play. Francisco Rodriguez walked one in the eighth before turning the ball over to John Axford, who worked a perfect ninth to clinch the victory and picked up his second save of the postseason.

The NLCS resumes tomorrow at Miller Park with Shaun Marcum facing the Cardinals' Edwin Jackson. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.