Garrett Mitchell delivered a go-ahead, two-run single in the fourth inning for his first career hit while Christian Yelich and Kolten Wong each homered with a man on as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the visiting Chicago Cubs 9-7 on Sunday.
Yelich and Wong each had three of Milwaukee’s 16 hits. Mitchell, in his second career at-bat, singled to center in the fourth, giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead and helping them win their first series of at least three games since July 29-31.
Meanwhile, Nico Hoerner clubbed a two-run home run for one of his three hits as Chicago dropped to 3-6 since winning five straight. Franmil Reyes got the Cubs within two with his two-run homer in the ninth, and they had the tying run at plate when Milwaukee’s Devin Williams (nine saves) fanned Yan Gomes and got Willson Contreras to bounce into a double play.
After falling 7-0 on Saturday, the Cubs didn’t waste time getting to Brewers starter Eric Lauer (10-5) with Hoerner’s RBI single in the first. Chicago went up 2-0 in the second on Seiya Suzuki’s run-scoring single.
Milwaukee, though, needed just two innings to erase that deficit. Hunter Renfroe’s RBI double in the third made it a 2-1 game against Chicago starter Adrian Sampson, who allowed four other hits and a walk while striking out two in just 3 1/3 innings.
Milwaukee broke things open in the fourth, thanks to three straight singles and Yelich’s second homer in consecutive days, this time off Cubs reliever Sean Newcomb (2-1).
However, Chicago made it 5-4 in the fifth on Hoerner’s two-run homer over the wall in the left-field corner against Lauer. The left-hander allowed four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out four in five innings.
The Brewers regained their three-run edge when Wong went deep with a man on against Newcomb in the bottom of the fifth. Renfroe and Keston Hiura each added an RBI single in the sixth for Milwaukee, which won back-to-back home games for the first time since Aug. 9-10.
–Field Level Media