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After the floodgates opened for 24 runs against the Mariners yesterday, the Milwaukee Brewers faced the defending champion Chicago Cubs today on the road at Sloan Park.
Zach Davies got the start for the Brewers, but he didn’t have his best stuff or command on the mound. He allowed single runs in the first two innings on solo home runs by Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras before things really unraveled in the 3rd inning. The Cubbies drew a couple of walks before back-to-back doubles by Addison Russell and Jason Heyward followed by an RBI single off the bat of Contreras. Four runs would come home before Davies could escape the frame. Zach managed only 3.0 complete innings today, allowing six runs (all earned) on six hits and three walks, with two strikeouts.
The Brewers scored a couple runs in the top of the 2nd on an Isan Diaz RBI single and Orlando Arcia RBI groundout and continued to slowly chip away at the Cubs’ lead. Diaz had another RBI single and Arcia another RBI groundout in the fourth inning to make it 6-4, and Eric Thames hit his first Cactus League home run in the top of the 5th to make it a 6-5 game.
The Brewers bullpen put together some strong pitching performances after Davies left the game as both offenses would go quiet until the 9th inning. Brent Suter (2 IP, 1 K), Corey Knebel (1 IP, 3 K), Andy Oliver (1 IP), and Michael Blazek (1 IP, 1 K) all registered scoreless outings for Milwaukee against the Cubs.
In the top of the 9th, Brett Phillips drew a two-out walk off of Jose Rosario and stole second base. After Kyle Wren drew another walk, Dustin Houle hit an RBI single to score Phillips, and a throwing error on the play by left fielder Eloy Jimenez would allow Wren to come all the way around from first to give Milwaukee a 7-6 lead.
Tyler Cravy came out for Milwaukee in the bottom of the 9th and was greeted rudely by Chris Dominguez, who deposited the first pitch he saw over the fence to tie the game up at 7 apiece. Cravy would retire the next three batters to finish out the frame, and since this is spring training the game was called a tie after 9 innings were completed.
The Brewers now stand at 10-8-1 in Cactus League play. They will face the Rockies tomorrow afternoon at 3:10 PM CST with the audio webcast available on MLB.com. Chase Anderson gets the start for Milwaukee against lefty Kyle Freeland.