Brewers edge 2-1 for 7th straight win
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JIM HOEHN
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Brandon Woodruff pitched another gem and the Milwaukee Brewers made the most of their two hits, hanging on to edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Tuesday night for their season-high seventh straight win.
A day after battering Chicago 14-4, the Brewers extended their NL Central lead to five games. The second-place Cubs lost their fifth in a row.
Milwaukee managed to win with just an RBI double by Christian Yelich in the first inning and an RBI single by Jace Peterson in the fourth. Both runs were walked aboard by Zach Davies (5-5), making his first start against his for- mer team.
Woodruff (7-3) allowed one run on four hits in six innings, striking out eight and nudging his ERA down from 1.89 to 1.87. In four starts against Chicago this season, he is 2-0 with a 0.72 ERA, allowing two earned runs in 25 innings.
Brent Suter and Jake Cousins pitched the sev- enth, Brad Boxberger worked the eighth and Josh Hader finished for his 20th save in 20 opportunities.
Hader allowed a one-out single to Joc Pederson and walked Willson Contreras, but then struck out Javier Baez got pinch-hitter Jose Lobaton on a bouncer to first.
Davies gave up two runs on two hits with three walks in four innings. Davies won 43 games in his five seasons with Milwaukee, including a 17- 9 record in 2017, before being traded to San Diego following the 2019 season.
Davies said he felt no extra pressure in facing the Brewers for the first time.
“Just another game, really,” Davies said. “Go out there and try and compete and try to win a ballgame.”
Chicago tied it in the fourth when Baez tripled and Patrick Wisdom delivered a one-out double. Jason Heyward walked, but Woodruff struck out Sergio Alcantara and got Eric Sogard on a pop out.
“You’ve just got to take a breath, kind of be in the moment, try to make a pitch and just limit the damage,” Woodruff said. “I was able to do that.”
The Cubs loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but failed to capi- talize. Cousins relieved with a runner on first and two outs and walked Contreras and hit Baez with a pitch, but then struck out Ian Happ.
Chicago, which stranded 12, also had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth when Sogard lined into an inning-ending double play.
“You’ve got to give credit to their guys making pitch- es, but if we want to win, we’ve got to come through with men on base,” Cubs manager David Ross said.
