Brantley homers with 4 RBIs as Indians top Brewers 7

Counsell and Guerrero will need some new material when joking with their shortstop from now on. He served up two Wednesday, including a three-run shot by Michael Brantley, and he leads the staff with 23 on the season, one off the pace set by National League leader Kyle Kendrick of Colorado. Although the Indians took the lead, their potential for an offensive explosion was short-circuited when left fielder David Murphy grounded out and catcher Yan Gomes grounded into an inning-ending double play. “Finally, I got a fastball right down the middle”. He was having trouble driving the ball down and left some change ups up in the strike zone. And the emergence of young right-hander Taylor Jungmann, who is 5-1 with a 2.04 ERA in seven starts since being called up June 9, is complicating the situation. He had 38 singles in that time. “The more runs we have, the better chance we have to win. He was happy. It’s been a while since his last home run”. He will be opposed by Milwaukee righty Matt Garza (4-10, 5.55 ERA), who will be aiming to have an improved second half. He stays through the ball probably even moreso when runners are in scoring position.

Explanation: McAllister, in Tuesday’s 8-1 loss to the Brewers, allowed three runs on three hits without retiring a batter in the seventh.

Parra hit Salazar’s first pitch for the first of his two triples. Segura went 3 for 4 and scored twice.

Two innings later, it was Brantley who put the Indians in front for good. Thank heaven for double plays, says I! Alas, after a Murphy single, Santana contrived to… ground into a double play.

The Indians had two runners on base in the second, fourth and fifth, but failed to score during Garza’s 83 pitches.

On Wednesday, McAllister struck out three and allowed one hit.

Brewers reserve outfielder Shane Peterson had a pinch-hit single and has six hits in his last six pinch-hitting appearances.

“I think his track record keeps him in there”, Counsell said. The team gave away 4,000 bobbleheads of Harry Doyle, the radio play-by-play character in the movie played by Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker. And in the 8th Bryan Shaw managed to work around a leadoff single, helped by the fact that the Brewers definitely appeared to have caught the Tribe’s deadly “double play disease” by now. “It was a team effort all the way around”.

After Anderson struck out swinging, second baseman Jason Kipnis hit a double to deep center field, and then, moved over to third base when Lindor lofted a single to center, Brantley delivered the big blow of the inning when he crushed a game-tying three-run home run into the right field bullpen. He allowed 10 hits and five runs in five innings. It was the worst game in five major league starts for the rookie, who saw his ERA rise from 0.89 to 1.91.

The Indians snapped an eight-game losing streak dating to 2001 in the interleague series with the Brewers.