Cubs 11, Brewers 6: Chicago compiles 17 hits
The Chicago Cubs can put a lot of pressure on a pitching staff, which is what made the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1, 11-inning victory Friday night all the more remarkable.
It was a different story in the second game of the series Saturday night at Miller Park, which had an even higher ratio of Chicago fans than usual. The Cubs kept coming at the Brewers, including a high number of damaging soft hits, and pulled away to an 11-6 victory.
The 17 hits compiled by the Cubs before the sellout crowd of 43,080 represented their most in Miller Park in seven years.
"We needed more fielders tonight, in front of the outfielders and somewhere in the infield," manager Craig Counsell joked. "You get credit for putting the ball in play, for sure. They put the ball in play. They found a lot of holes."
It took the Brewers 11 innings to score two runs Friday night but they did it in a span of three batters against Kyle Hendricks to open the bottom of the first inning. Jonathan Villar, batting .143 with 10 strikeouts in 21 at-bats, led off with a home run to center, ripping into a 0-2 cutter that Hendricks would have liked back.
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BOX SCORE: Cubs 11, Brewers 6
Eric Thames followed with a sharp single to right and raced around to score when Travis Shaw blistered a double into the gap in right-center. It was the fifth double of the season for Shaw and his sixth extra-base hit.
After that, the Cubs went to work on Brewers left-hander Tommy Milone. They scored three times in the third inning, sparked by Kris Bryant’s two-run double. Bryant later scored on a groundout.
Chicago kept coming at Milone in the fourth, tacking on another run on a two-out single to center by Bryant. But Hendricks got hurt using his cutter again in the bottom of the inning when Nick Franklin made his first hit for the Brewers count with a booming two-run homer to right-center.
Franklin was a late addition to the Brewers’ lineup when Ryan Braun was scratched with lower back tightness.
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The Cubs broke back on top with two runs in the fifth off reliever Jhan Mariñez, who didn’t help his cause by throwing a wild pitch with two on and two out. Hendricks followed with a nubber down the third-base line that went for an RBI single and Albert Almora knocked in another run with a bouncer off the glove of Mariñez that Villar couldn’t handle at second.
It just got uglier for the home team after that as Chicago roughed up a weary bullpen.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Manager Craig Counsell wouldn’t give names but said some of his relievers would be off-limits after heavy usage in the first five games. Jacob Barnes, Neftali Feliz, Jared Hughes, Corey Knebel and Carlos Torres all had pitched three times.
“Junior (Guerra’s) injury, extra-inning games, close games – those are recipes for a lot of bullpen usage,” Counsell said. “We have some guys we have to give a day off today for sure. We had three one-run games in our first five. Those are the games the bullpen gets worked.”
After using four relievers to get through the game, the Brewers optioned lefty Brent Suter to Class AAA Colorado Springs. Suter pitched an inning in the game, allowing four runs.
• How thin have the Brewers been on lefties? Milone was the first left-hander to start a game for the Brewers at Miller Park since Tom Gorzelanny on Aug. 21, 2013, vs. St. Louis. He was the first lefty to start against the Cubs for the Brewers since Randy Wolf on June 7, 2012, at Miller Park.
STAT SHEET
• Villar’s home run off Hendricks was the fifth leadoff home run of his career.
• The four runs scored by the Cubs in four innings off Milone ended a string of three stingy starts for the Brewers. Wily Peralta, Chase Anderson and Jimmy Nelson combined for a 1.06 ERA by allowing only two earned runs in 17 innings, holding opponents to a .175 average.
TAKEAWAY
You don’t have to always hit the ball hard to do damage. The Cubs proved that by dumping one soft hit in after another to score runs. But it shows you what can happen when you put the ball in play. It just might drop in for a hit. Strikeouts never do that.
RECORD
This year: 2-4
Last year: 3-3
ATTENDANCE
Saturday: 43,080 (sellout)
This year: 182,256 (30,376 avg.)
Last year: 175,207 (29,201 avg.)
NEXT GAME
Sunday: Cubs at Brewers, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Zach Davies (0-1, 12.46) vs. Chicago RHP Jake Arrieta (1-0, 0.00). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.