MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers earned their sixth straight win by producing their biggest inning since manager Craig Counsell's playing days.
Willy Adames and Keston Hiura each hit a three-run homer during a 10-run outburst in the eighth that lifted the Brewers to a 14-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.
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The Brewers hadn't scored that many runs in a single inning since getting 10 in the first in an 11-7 triumph at Washington on April 18, 2010. That particular 10-run outburst included a grand slam from Counsell, who was playing shortstop that day.
“I remember it was a long time ago,” Counsell quipped. “That was a good day also.”
Avisaíl García homered and drove in three runs for the Brewers. Jace Peterson went 3 for 4 and scored three runs. Hiura had two hits and four RBIs.
The Brewers extended their NL Central lead to four games by winning amid a raucous atmosphere at American Family Field, with Cubs fans appearing to make up over half the crowd of 30,251.
“That was probably one of the best wins that I’ve been a part of,” said Adames, who reached the World Series with the Tampa Bay Rays last season. “And it’s just the regular season. That was like the playoffs, you know what I mean? That was impressive.”
Ian Happ and Patrick Wisdom each hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, who have lost four straight.
“I thought we played phenomenal baseball the whole game right there till that bottom of the eighth,” manager David Ross said.
That's when everything fell apart for the Cubs.
Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled home Peterson to break a 4-all tie and start the Brewers’ eighth-inning flurry. Bradley’s RBI double came after Ryan Tepera (0-2) issued consecutive one-out walks to Peterson and Hiura.
The Brewers poured it on from there.
Tyrone Taylor hit a sacrifice fly and Luis Urías delivered an RBI double that made it 7-4. After Trevor Megill replaced Tepera and intentionally walked Christian Yelich, Adames homered to left-center.
Peterson added an RBI double and Hiura connected against Megill later in the inning. By the time the inning was over, the Cubs had resorted to putting infielder Eric Sogard on the mound.
“We were all talking amongst each other, and I think that's the first time I know that I've seen going from your eighth-inning guy to a position player (pitching) in the same inning,” Bradley said. “I've never seen it. It was an unbelievable run by our team.”
Milwaukee broke the game open after the Cubs left the bases loaded in the top half of the eighth against Devin Williams (5-1).
After retiring the first two Cubs batters, Williams allowed a double to Sogard and issued consecutive walks to Sergio Alcántara and Jose Lobaton.
Williams then fell behind 2-0 against pinch-hitter Rafael Ortega before getting him to ground to first on a 3-2 pitch.
“I think that was the key for us to win the game, keeping the bases loaded,” Adames said. “The guys showed in the bottom of the eighth with that energy.”
The Cubs also left the bases loaded in the second and had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at third with one out in the seventh.
Chicago trailed 4-2 before Wisdom’s pinch-hit homer off Brad Boxberger in the seventh.
Freddy Peralta pitched six effective innings for the Brewers, settling down after Happ's two-run shot in the first. He struck out eight and walked four.
Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks allowed four runs in seven innings. When the Brewers scored twice in the bottom of the first, it ended Hendricks’ streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings.
Hendricks had won each of his last eight starts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: 1B Anthony Rizzo rested after tightness on the left side of his lower back caused him to leave their game with the Los Angeles Dodgers a night earlier.
Brewers: 2B Kolten Wong was out of the starting lineup for a second straight day due to tightness in his left calf. “I’ve felt better every single day,” Wong said regarding his possible return. “Maybe tomorrow, but I think Wednesday is more of a reliable timeline for it.”
TRANSACTIONS
Cubs: Recalled Megill from Triple-A Iowa and optioned RHP Tommy Nance to Iowa.
Brewers: Recalled utilityman Pablo Reyes from Triple-A Nashville, optioned RHP Ryan Weber to Nashville and outrighted OF Derek Fisher to Nashville.
UP NEXT
RHP Zach Davies (5-4, 4.31 ERA) pitches for the Cubs and RHP Brandon Woodruff (6-3, 1.89) starts for the Brewers on Tuesday night.
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