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WP: Kyle Hendricks (14-7)
LP: Zach Davies (10-7)
HR: Chris Carter (33), Ryan Braun (25)
It may be a home series for the Brewers, but they might as well be the road team for this one.
In front of a sold out crowd of mostly Cubs fans, the Brewers grabbed an early lead today on a solo home run from Chris Carter in the second. That looked good to back Zach Davies up early, who was strong through the first five innings, allowing just four baserunners.
However, the Cubs began their rally in the sixth inning. It started with a little small ball, as a leadoff walk to Tommy La Stella hurt Davies. Anthony Rizzo moved La Stella up on a groundout, then a single to left field by Jorge Soler scored La Stella to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cubs built on that rally in the seventh. Davies induced two groundouts to start the inning, but a double by Miguel Montero followed by singles from Chris Coghlan and Tommy La Stella (as well as a fielding error from Scooter Gennett) allowed two more runs to score and give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. That was all for Davies day, as he finished with three runs (two earned) in 6.2 innings, with six hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.
Jhan Marinez finished off the seventh to keep the score at 3-1, and Brent Suter faced one batter to start the eighth (and threw just two pitches, getting a groundout from Anthony Rizzo). Ben Rowen came in after that and the game just fell apart. In just eight pitches, Rowen allowed a single to Soler, a single to Addison Russell, a groundout from Jason Heyward (that was misplayed by Orlando Arcia), and a bunt single. That boosted the Cubs lead to 5-1 and ended Rowen’s day.
It didn’t get better from there. Rob Scahill came in, hit Montero with a pitch to load the bases, and Chris Coghlan singled to drive in the two inherited runners, increasing the Cubs lead to 7-1. Scahill induced two groundouts after that, but the damage was done. Rowen finished his day with four runs allowed (three earned) on three hits. Scahill allowed just one hit and hit one batter, but was charged with no runs.
A leadoff home run by Ryan Braun made the final score a little more respectable, but the Brewers couldn’t do anything else as the Cubs finished them off to win the game 7-2.
The series will continue tomorrow night at Miller Park. The revitalized Wily Peralta will face Jason Hammel in the second game of the series. First pitch is at 7:10 pm.