The Brewers only scored in one inning on Sunday afternoon, but then again, that inning resulted in seven runs, which was plenty enough in a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
With Freddy Peralta on the bump, Nico Hoerner capitalized immediately, hitting a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for a quick 1-0 lead. After a flyout from Michael Busch, Peralta allowed a single to Cody Bellinger. He walked Ian Happ with two outs but got Christopher Morel swinging to end the frame. The two hits and walk allowed in that inning were not indicative of the rest of Peralta’s day.
After the first, neither team could get anybody past first base until the bottom of the fourth. William Contreras started things off with a single off Kyle Hendricks. Hendricks then hung a 2-1 curveball down the middle to Christian Yelich and he didn’t miss, hitting it 422 feet off the batter’s eye in center for a 2-1 lead.
The scoring wouldn’t stop there. After a Willy Adames strikeout, Jake Bauers walked before Rhys Hoskins hit a long single to left that was misplayed by Happ, putting runners at first and second. Sal Frelick kept the train moving with an RBI single before Jackson Chourio hit a single himself to load the bases. Andruw Monasterio struck out, but with two outs and the bases loaded, Brice Turang took Hendricks deep for the second time in the inning.
Contreras, batting for the second time in the inning, flew out against Jorge López to end the seven-run inning as Craig Counsell went to his bullpen. The grand slam marks Milwaukee’s fifth in the last eight games, including their second this weekend after Chourio hit one in Friday night’s 4-2 win. That also makes the Brewers just the second team ever — joining the 2020 Padres — to hit five grand slams in an eight-game stretch.
Peralta kept up his end of the bargain on the mound, setting down the final 14 batters he faced to make it through seven innings with just one run allowed on a pair of hits and a pair of walks, with no hits allowed outside of his rough first inning. He also struck out eight Cubs hitters.
For its part, the Cubs bullpen looked decent in relief of Hendricks, allowing no runs on three hits and three walks over the final 4 1⁄3 innings. Milwaukee’s only real threat came in the eighth, as Frelick and Chourio walked with two outs before Monasterio singled to load the bases. Turang ultimately struck out looking to end the frame.
As a team, Milwaukee finished the afternoon with seven runs on 10 hits and four walks. Every player in the lineup had a hit with the exception of Adames, who finished the six-game homestand without a hit in 22 at-bats, lowering his batting average from .246 to .229. Given that Adames hasn’t missed a game yet this season, now seems like it may be the time for Pat Murphy to force him to take a break.
Yelich and Turang each had two hits, driving in six of the seven runs with Frelick collecting the other RBI. Bauers, Hoskins, Frelick, and Chourio all reached twice with a walk and a single.
Peralta improved to 6-4 on the season with a 3.83 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 94 innings pitched. Jakob Junis took the final two innings, allowing just a walk with a strikeout.
Milwaukee now heads back west to battle the Colorado Rockies for four games beginning Monday night. Bryse Wilson gets the start against Austin Gomber in that one.
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