Brewers Win Second Consecutive Road Game With 4-3 Victory Over Rockies

WP: Shaun Marcum (8-3)
LP: Aaron Cook (0-5)
SV: John Axford (25)

HR: Jason Giambi (10)

MVP: Casey McGehee (+.143)
LVP: Nyjer Morgan (-.049)

Win Expectancy Graph

Two days into the new lineup experiment, Ron Roenicke looks like a genius.  Two road wins in a row will help do that.

Milwaukee used some small ball to start the scoring today.  In the second inning, Rickie Weeks scored the first run on a double, groundout to first, and a sacrifice fly.  Colorado tied it in the fourth inning, but the Brewers put up three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 4-1 lead.

Shaun Marcum pitched well through five innings.  However, at the end of the fifth inning, Marcum made an excellent throw to first base while falling to the ground to get Dexter Fowler to end the inning.  He injured himself on the play, and it became apparent in the next inning.  He allowed a home run on the first pitch to Jason Giambi, then threw two balls to Troy Tulowitzki to start his at-bat before being removed.  Report from the Brewers is that he strained his neck.  LaTroy Hawkins came in and worked through a walk and a hit to keep the game at 4-2.

Takashi Saito pitched through distractions from the crowd and put up a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.  Francisco Rodriguez worked around a double and a walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts.  John Axford came in to pitch the ninth inning.  Jonathan Herrera reached on an error by Josh Wilson, and a double by Ty Wigginton scored him.  After that, Axford settled down and got Carlos Gonzalez to ground out to Wilson and Mark Ellis to strike out.  Jason Giambi drew a walk, but Axford got Troy Tulowitzki to strike out and end the game.

The offense was well spread out today.  Seven of the nine starters had a hit with four players collecting multi-hit games (Nyjer Morgan, Rickie Weeks, Casey McGehee, Josh Wilson).  Only Shaun Marcum and Prince Fielder had no hits, though Fielder did draw two walks.  With Josh Wilson putting up his second straight multi-hit game, you have to wonder if the days of Yuniesky Betancourt as a regular starter are starting to come to an end.  He didn't help his case on defense though, committing an error and originally credited with another (that would be rescinded later).

The Brewers travel to Arizona next to take on the Diamondbacks starting on Monday.