Red-hot Khris Davis helps Brewers khrush Cubs, 12-4
By Phil Watson
Khris Davis has been a streaky player through his first two years with the Milwaukee Brewers.
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He’s on a hot streak right now, hammering out three hits—including a pair of doubles—and driving in three runs as the Brewers pummeled the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park Saturday night, 12-4.
Davis added that barrage to a 4-for-5 night against the Cubs on Friday. He’s 7-for-8 with a homer and six RBI in the first two games of the three-game weekend set, raising his batting average from .209 to .263 in just two days.
The 12 runs were a season-high for the Crew (10-21) and their 11 hits raised their team batting average to .229.
“We showed flashes of it in spring training,” Davis told MLB.com. “Now that it is pulling up during the season, it feels great.”
Four of Davis’ seven hits in the series have gone for extra bases. That comes after entering the weekend on an 0-for-17 skid.
“It seems like he flipped the switch and it’s pretty good right now,” manager Craig Counsell said of Davis. “The key to being a good hitter is extending the long streaks and shortening the tough streaks.
“It’s a challenge for every hitter. But when Khris gets locked in, it’s damaging. It’s extra-base hits, he’s driving in runs, he’s scoring runs. You want him to be aggressive up there like he was [Saturday night].”
Jason Rogers added to the fireworks, belting his first major-league home run in the fifth inning, part of a five-run outburst that helped put the game away.
After battering left-hander Travis Wood (2-2) and four relievers—Edwin Jackson, Phil Coke, Jason Motte and James Russell—for seven innings, the Cubs turned to backup catcher David Ross to pitch the eighth.
Predictably, he set the side down in order—the only Chicago hurler to do so Saturday night.
Kyle Lohse (2-4) struggled through five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with a walk and seven strikeouts, to get the win. He served up a three-run homer to much-ballyhooed rookie Kris Bryant in the third inning—Bryant’s first big-league home run.
Lohse needed 106 pitches to get the five innings in and his ERA is now an unsightly 7.03.
“The frustrating thing about baseball is you can feel great throwing your bullpens, but the hitters will let you know what’s really going on,” Lohse told MLB.com. “I feel really close. I just keep leaving a couple out over the plate and it’s touching me up a little bit.”
The Brewers led 2-0 before Bryant’s homer in the third put Chicago (15-14) on top 3-2.
But Milwaukee grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the frame.
Jean Segura led off with a single and the Cubs contributed to their own woes when second baseman Addison Russell dropped a throw on a force attempt, allowing Hector Gomez to reach. Ryan Braun walked to load the bases and after a hard-luck lineout by Adam Lind, Davis cracked a ground-rule double that hopped the wall in left field to put the Brewers back in the lead, 4-3.
Gerardo Parra followed with a sacrifice fly for a 5-3 Crew advantage.
The Cubs closed to 5-4 on Starlin Castro’s RBI single in the fourth and Segura’s second homer of the year in the bottom of the fourth made it 6-4.
The Brewers put it out of reach in the fifth. Jackson came on in relief and issued back-to-back walks to Braun and Lind before Davis doubled to center to plate a run. Coke relieved Jackson and walked Parra before Martin Maldonado lofted a sacrifice fly. One out later, Rogers came on to hit for Lohse and drove a 2-1 fastball over the center-field wall for his first big-league homer.
“I was thinking when (Bryant) hit his first, I was wondering, ‘Hey, what if I hit my first (Saturday night?’” Rogers said. “It was pretty cool.”
The Brewers took that 2-0 lead in the second when Parra hit his first home run of the season following a single by Davis.
Milwaukee added a final run in the sixth. Braun singled, went to second on a walk to Davis and scored on Parra’s single to right.
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Jeremy Jeffress worked a perfect sixth, making his National League-leading 17th appearance of the season. Michael Blazek allowed a hit and struck out two while pitching the seventh and eighth and Neal Cotts finished with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out one.
Besides Davis’ 3-for-3 night, Parra was 2-for-2 with four RBI and Segura went 2-for-5.
Expect to see lots of pink at the ballpark as the Brewers celebrate Mother’s Day with a 1:10 p.m. matinee. Right-hander Matt Garza (2-4, 4.58 ERA) is set to start for Milwaukee against one of his former clubs, while the Cubs will counter with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 5.61).
Garza is 1-2 lifetime with a 5.82 ERA in three career starts against Chicago, with all of those appearances coming last season. Garza was a member of the Cubs from 2011-13.
Hendricks went 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts against the Brewers as a rookie last season.