Junior Lake’s first inning grand slam was key in helping the Cubs to an 8-5 series opening victory against the Milwaukee Brewers. The grand slam is Lake’s first of his career and his fifth home run of the season.
The Cubs were off and running when they struck for five runs in the very first inning of the ball game. It started with a Nate Schierholtz single that put the Cubs up 1-0, that was followed up by Lake’s grand slam.
The Brewers would get one back in the top of the second inning on a Norichika Aoki sacrifice fly. They would snag another run in the third when former Cub Aramis Ramirez went yard to cut the lead to three. The Cubs would promptly get the two runs back in the bottom half of the third on a Chris Rusin single that scored Ryan Sweeney and Donnie Murphy.
The scoring would stop up until the eighth inning when Scooter Gennett hit a three run home run to the right field bleachers to cut the Cub lead down to just two runs. In the bottom half of the eighth the Cubs would get just one of the runs back when Brian Bogusevic grounded into a fielders choice that allowed Donnie Murphy to score.
Chris Rusin made the start for the Cubs. It was an abnormally short outing for Rusin who only managed three and two thirds innings. He gave up seven hits and two earned runs over that time. Carlos Villanueva would come in in relief of Rusin, he pitched two and a third innings, gave up no hits, no runs, and struck out five. Villanueva also earned his fifth victory of the year. Kevin Gregg tallied his 30th save of the year for the Cubs.
Kyle Lohse was tagged with his ninth loss of the year, he made it through five innings, gave up eleven hits, and seven earned runs.
The Cubs had four batters manage to record two hits. Lake, Murphy, Anthony Rizzo, and Welington Castillo all had multiple hits in four trips a piece. The Cubs were also a surprising 5-14 with runners in scoring position compared to the Brewers’ 1-5.
These two teams are now tied for the worst record in the NL Central and with six games left against each other, it’s sure to be a wild race to see who can stay out of the cellar.
The series will continue tomorrow with a mid-afternoon game at Wrigley Field. Game time tomorrow is set for 3:05 PM CT. The match up we will likely see is between, Johnny Hellweg (0-3) for the Brewers and Jake Arrieta (3-3) for the Cubs.
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