Milwaukee blasts six home runs in 11-1 win over Chicago

Box Score

The Brewers' offense exploded again in their opening game of the series against the division rival Chicago Cubs. Kyle Hendricks was on the hill for Chicago, facing Adrian Houser for the Crew. With the Brewers looking to continue their win streak, this game was an important one to begin the homestand. Kolten Wong was placed back in the leadoff role, with Andrew McCutchen being moved to cleanup. This lineup proved to work nicely, jumping on Kyle Hendricks early and not looking back.

After a scoreless first, Milwaukee scored in the second after Rowdy Tellez hit a double off the right-field wall. Hunter Renfroe popped out and Omar Narvaez grounded to first, advancing Rowdy Tellez to third. Cain then hit a blooping ball back up the middle that Nico Hoerner was unable to handle, scoring Tellez for a 1-0 lead. They didn’t let up, however, as third baseman Jace Peterson blasted his first home run of the season, putting the Brewers up 3-0. Wong then hit a double to right-field, but the inning ended when Willy Adames popped out.

McCutchen got in on the fun in the bottom of the third, as he hit a solo home run into the Brewers bullpen, his second of the season. No runs were scored by either team in the fourth, but the Brewers added insurance in the fifth inning. Adames led off the inning with a double to center and was immediately followed by a towering Christian Yelich home run, putting the Brewers up 6-0. Hendricks was relieved by former Brewer Daniel Norris with only one out. Milwaukee wouldn’t let up and would tack on another run after a solo shot by Hunter Renfroe.

Chicago would finally get on the board in the top of the seventh when Houser was relieved by Hoby Milner. Milner got the first two Cubs out but walked the third batter. Counsell then replaced him with Jandel Gustave, who would walk the bases loaded. The Cubs scored off of a wild pitch that got past Narvaez and went all the way to the backstop. Gustave was able to get out of the jam without giving up any further runs.

Milwaukee would respond again in the bottom of the inning when Tellez was able to draw a walk, and Renfroe blasted his second home run of the night, scoring both and boosting the Milwaukee lead to 9-1. In the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers would continue their explosion, when Adames cranked a booming two-run home run to give Milwaukee an 11-1 advantage. Jake Cousins was then brought in to finish the game in the ninth and retired all three Cubs in a row.

The Brewers are streaking right now, winning four in a row and looking to continue to build their two-game lead on the trailing St. Louis Cardinals. Saturday's game will feature Eric Lauer, who pitched extremely well in his last outing against the Phillies. Chicago will use lefty Justin Steele, who is struggling with a 5.40 ERA.

Milwaukee will no doubt look to continue finding their bats in this series and hopefully throughout the rest of the season. They will finish their three-game series against the Cubs, and then welcome the Reds for another divisional series in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

First pitch is set for 6:10 CDT on Bally Sports Wisconsin and 620 WTMJ.