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It’s still early in Cactus League action, but that didn’t stop the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs from trotting out lineups filled players should fill prominent roles for their respective clubs during today’s tilt. Chase Anderson started things off on the mound for Milwaukee looking to shake off a couple homer-filled outings in his first two appearances, and he did just that by tossing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Chase allowed only one hit and issued a single walk, lowering his Cactus League ERA to 7.50.
Veteran lefty Jon Lester was the opener for Chicago and ran into trouble right away in the first inning. Christian Yelich singled with one out and after a Jesus Aguilar strikeout, Travis Shaw bashed his first homer of the spring to left-center field to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead. Lester settled down with two scoreless innings after that, though.
Zach Davies came on to relieve Anderson and tossed scoreless innings in the fourth before running into trouble in the fifth. Willson Contreras walked with one out and then scored on a double by Mark Zagunis. Zagunis was pinch-ran for by Charcer Burks, who came around to score with two outs on a single by Albert Almora that knotted the game up at 2-2.
Mike Moustakas led off the top of the sixth with a single and was pinch ran for by Nate Orf. Yasmani Grandal walked to put runners on first and second. Two batters later, Ben Gamel laced a line drive double to left field that plated both runs to make it 4-2, Milwaukee. The next batter was Erik ‘Wild’ Kratz, and he singled to score pinch runner Tristen Lutz to make it 5-2.
Davies recorded two outs while allowing another run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning before Aaron Wilkerson came on and served up a two-out home run to Trent Giambrone, which made it 5-4. The Brewers added another run to their tally in the 7th inning on a long home run by prospect Lucas Erceg, and then one more in the eighth thanks to a Tyrone Taylor RBI double, his second two-bagger of the contest.
Aaron Wilkerson allowed only the one run across 2.1 innings pitched, begetting Jay Jackson, who recorded the save with a scoreless frame in the ninth. The 7-4 victory moves Milwaukee to 3-6 in their quest to defend the Cactus Cup, while the Cubs fall to 5-4.
The Brewers return to Maryvale tomorrow to face off against the Reds at American Family Fields of Phoenix, with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 PM central.