Cubs Top Brewers 4
The two-time All-Star will try to extend his career-best streak of hitting at least one homer to four games on Saturday, when Chicago attempts to claim a series victory in the third of four games in Milwaukee against the Brewers.Rizzo opened the second half with a 7-for-46 slump that featured no home runs as the Cubs limped to a 5-7 record in the 12 games following the Midsummer Classic, but he began to find his stroke with a two-run blast in a series-clinching victory over Colorado on Wednesday. Starter Jake Arrieta threw yet another quality start, allowing two runs on five hits while walking three and fanning five. Earlier in the day, Chicago acquired RHP Dan Haren from the Miami Marlins in exchange for minor leaguers Ivan Pineyro and Elliot Soto. He is making his 10th major-league start tonight, and the first nine have been pretty good: 2.14 ERA, 1.051 WHIP. Hammel continued his success against the Brewers in two meetings in May, allowing five runs over 13 innings in a no-decision and a win.
“We lost three players from our regular lineup”, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. He has a 14-game hitting streak, which is the longest active hitting streak in the majors. Shortly after Hammel struck out for the second out of the frame, second baseman Addison Russell singled to center to score Soler which made it a two-run game. Cubs right-hander Hector Rondon allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, but retired the next three batters in order to collect his 15th save.
So far, the Cubs have remained pat leading up to the trade deadline, which comes at 4:00 p.m. EDT Friday afternoon.
Chicago picked up a pair of veteran right-handers.
The Brewers sent outfielder Gerardo Parra, the hottest hitter on a weak-hitting team, to Baltimore, and they moved reliever Broxton to St. Louis. Kyle Hendricks gets the ball, and he’s 4-5 with a 3.81 ERA and 97 strikeouts this season. Montero has been sidelined since July 12 with a sprained left thumb. Chicago gained for the third time in 4 video games because it was swept in a weekend collection by the Phillies.
Brewers: OF Logan Schafer (recalled) and INF-OF Elian Herrera (selected) joined the Brewers, replacing two outfielders, Carlos Gomez (Houston) and Gerardo Parra (Baltimore), who were traded Thursday and Friday respectively. Winning in Miller Park, as they did last night, is significant, as they’ve had a rough time there over the last few years. The Chicago Cubs have won six of their last eight road games.
Braun hit his 249th career home run in the bottom of the first.
Outfielder Jorge Soler pushed Bryant into scoring position with a single to Shane Peterson in center field prior to Castro tying up the ballgame at one apiece with his first RBI knock of the evening.