Brewers: Cubs walk off in 10 innings
By Phil Watson
The Milwaukee Brewers got a milestone home run from Ryan Braun Wednesday night at Wrigley Field and made a dramatic ninth-inning comeback thanks to a pair of wild pitches.
But Miguel Montero got the last laugh leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, hitting a walk-off homer off Michael Blazek as the Chicago Cubs won their sixth straight game, 3-2.
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Braun hit his 20th homer of the season off Cubs starter Jason Hammel with two outs in the first inning to put Milwaukee (48-67) up 1-0.
More significantly, it was the 250th homer of Braun’s career—putting him just one behind Hall of Famer Robin Yount’s club-record 251.
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“Obviously, it’s special,” Braun told MLB.com of the milestone. “I’m headed in the right direction. But right now we focus on us, focus on what we’re trying to do as a team and it’s hard to enjoy any type of individual success when things are going the way they are as a team.
“Obviously, home runs are nice. It’s challenging for us to score runs right now. But other than that, I never reflect on anything like that during the year.”
The Brewers wasted a terrific start by right-hander Matt Garza, who allowed two runs on just three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in seven innings.
Chicago (64-48) tied the game in the bottom of the second when Kris Bryant connected for his 16th homer of the season and took the lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Addison Russell.
Facing closer Hector Rondon in the ninth, the Brewers rallied.
Braun led off the inning with a flare to right field that fell in for a single and Adam Lind reached when Russell couldn’t make a good throw on a potential force play on Braun at second base.
Rondon’s wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third before Khris Davis struck out.
Scooter Gennett also fanned, but Rondon uncorked another wild pitch with Jean Segura at the plate that tied the game and gave the right-hander his fourth blown save of the year.
He struck out Segura to end the inning.
Blazek (5-3) came on to relieve left-hander Will Smith to start the 10th and his second delivery was turned around by Montero into the seats in left-center field. It was Montero’s 11th homer of the season.
Braun was 3-for-4, accounting for half of Milwaukee’s six hits. Jeremy Jeffress came on to retire one hitter in the eighth, striking out one and allowing a runner to reach on his own error, before Smith came on to work 1.2 inning, walking one and striking out three.
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Tommy Hunter (3-2) got the win for Chicago, working a perfect top of the 10th.
The Brewers try to salvage the finale of the three-game series at 1:20 p.m. Thursday. Right-hander Tyler Cravy (0-3, 5.40 ERA) is scheduled to face left-hander Jon Lester (7-8, 3.22) in the matinee.
This will be Cravy’s fourth big-league start and his first appearance against the Cubs. He took the loss in his last outing, allowing six runs on eight hits in five innings with two walks and four strikeouts in a 6-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Miller Park on Friday.
Lester, in his first season in Chicago, is 1-2 in three career starts against Milwaukee, with a 2.01 ERA and 0.985 WHIP in 22.1 innings, posting 18 strikeouts. He beat the Brewers at Wrigley Field on May 1, working seven shutout innings and allowing three hits with a walk and four strikeouts in a 1-0 Cubs victory.
He’s won two straight starts, including Friday, when he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings of a 7-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley, walking two and striking out three.
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