Brewers Topple Cubs, Nearing .500 May

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Brewer line-up must have used their off-day wisely on Thursday because they came back on Friday to put up 11 runs on the Chicago Cubs. The 11-5 victory brought the club up to 13-14 for the month of May with one game to play this month.

For the fifth straight game the Brewers scored in the first inning and for the ninth straight game they had 10 or more hits.

After a quick top of the first for Marco Estrada, Jean Segura led off the Brewer first with a single before a Ryan Braun wall-scraping home run. After a Jonathan Lucroy strikeout, Carlos Gomez drew a walk (the only Brewer walk of the game) and scored from first on a Khris Davis double. Davis came around to score on a Rickie Weeks single. After Mark Reynolds strike out, Weeks came around to score from first on a double by Martin Maldonado. Estrada struck out to end the inning, meaning Wood actually struck out the side.

The Cubs managed only a Starlin Casto walk in their half of the second. After a Segura ground out Braun singled in the Brewer half of the second. Lucroy followed with a hot shot to short, Castro made a diving stop on it, but couldn’t handle it and it was ruled a hit to put two on.

Gomez followed with a single to right to drive in Braun and increase the led to six. Khris Davis bounced into a double play to end the inning.

Mike Olt walked to lead off the Cub third, he moved to second on a Travis Wood single. Olt scored on a single by Emilio Bonifacio.  Wood would score on a Junior Lake fielders choice. The Brewers tried to turn two, but couldn’t get Lake at first. Luis Valbuena extended the threat with a ground-rule double (fan interference) to right, moving Lake to third.  Casto struck out, and Justin Ruggiano grounded out to third to end the threat.

Weeks led off the Brewer third with a double. Two batters later he scored on a Maldonado single to make it 7-2.

The Cubs made some noise in the fourth with a Nate Schierholtz single and Mike Olt walk, Estrada escaped without any damage. The crew went down in order in the bottom half of the frame against Carlos Villanueva, who replaced Wood for the last out of the third.

Lake walked to open the fifth. He moved to second on a Castro single after a Valbuena strike out. That was all for the Cubs though in the frame. Davis led off the Brewer half of the frame with a double and scored on a Weeks single.

Two batters later Maldonado singled to move Weeks to third. Rickie would score on a sac bunt by Estrada to make it 9-2. Maldonado scored on a single by Segura who moved to second on the throw.  Segura came around to score the Crew’s 11th run on a Braun single.

Nate Schierholtz led off the Cub sixth with a home run (2).  Jose Veras replaced Villanueva and set the Brewers down in order in their half of the inning.

Rob Wooten came on to pitch the seventh for Milwaukee, Valbuena was the only base runner for the Cubs, with a single, but a double play ended the frame. Veras retired the Brewers in order in the seventh.

Wei-Chung Wang came on for the Brewers to pitch the eighth inning. He allowed a double to Ruggiano, but Castillo, Schierholz and Olt went down in order.  Wesley Wright replaced Veras for Chicago.

The Brewers went down quickly in the eighth. Herrera grounded out, Segura reached on a single and Braun reached on an error by Castro.  Lucroy ended the frame with a double play grounder.

Tyler Thornburg came on to pitch the ninth for Milwaukee. Davis made a nice running catch to retire Barney, and Segura barely retired the speedy Emilio Bonifaco on a grounder to short. Lake and Valbuena followed with walks to put two on for Castro who knocked in Lake with a single to make it 11-4. John Baker followed with a single to left to drive in Valbuena. Castillo grounded out to Segura to finally end the game.

Estrada picked up the win. He threw six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with five walks and five strike outs. Wood picked up the loss for Chicago, throwing just 2 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs on 10 hits and one walk while striking out four.

Tomorrow the teams will continue their series 3:10pm when Jason Hammel (5-3, 3.08 ERA) takes on Wily Peralta (4-4, 2.12 ERA).

Brewers’ Three Stars

1. Ryan Braun – 3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
2. Martin Maldonado – 3-for-4, 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI
3. Khris Davis – 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI