Brewers as hot as the weather
Milwaukee beats the Mets, 8-7, to win its fifth straight series. Next up: St. Louis.
Jesús Aguilar did the heavy lifting early. Domingo Santana provided the late heroics.
And in the end, it was enough to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-7 victory over the New York Mets at Miller Park on Sunday afternoon.
Aguilar homered and drove in four runs in the first three innings, and Santana doubled in the tying and go-ahead runs with two outs to spark a four-run seventh as the Brewers took three of four games from the Mets to win their fifth consecutive series.
The victory also moved Milwaukee — possessor of the best record in the National League at 34-20 — to 14 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 26, 2014.
Leading, 6-4, in the seventh, the Mets had retired nine straight and had two outs on the board when the Brewers' offense quickly came to life.
With Christian Yelich on first, Aguilar drew a five-pitch walk from Robert Gsellman to keep the line moving. Left-hander Jerry Blevins came on to face Travis Shaw, who dunked a single to left to score Yelich and pull Milwaukee within a run at 6-5.
Santana, up next and facing a righthander in Paul Sewald, shrugged off an 0-for-3 day at the plate to that point by muscling a two-RBI double down the right-field line to get Milwaukee back into the lead.
Santana went to third on the throw, and on the next pitch Jonathan Villar followed with his own double to right to up the advantage to 8-6.
Jeremy Jeffress pitched a scoreless eighth — his 23rd consecutive straight outing without allowing a run — and Corey Knebel worked around a leadoff homer in the ninth from Devin Mesoraco to earn his fourth save of the season.
New York's second inning against Jhoulys Chacín was painfully similar to the first that it put up against Chase Anderson a day earlier.
The Mets managed five singles, a walk and a hit batter while batting around in the frame to go from a 1-0 deficit to a 4-1 lead. Making matters even worse was the big blow in the frame was struck by none other than opposing starter Zack Wheeler, who sent a two-run single over the head of Santana in right.
Chacín narrowly avoided digging an even bigger hole when Brewers tormentor Jay Bruce fell about 10 feet shy of hitting a grand slam to center, with the ball eventually settling into Cain's glove for the third out.
One big swing by Aguilar got Chacín and the Brewers right back into the game in the third.
After Cain walked to start and Yelich singled, Aguilar hammered a 97mph homer to left to tie it at 4-4. It was the ninth homer of the year for Aguilar, who also drove in Cain with a single in the opening inning.
Aguilar now ranks second on the team behind Shaw with nine homers and 30 RBI.
Chacín surrendered what appeared to be a leadoff homer in the fifth to Michael Conforto, but after a crew-chief review it was determined the ball hit off the top of the wall and bounced back onto the field of play for a double.
It was only a brief respite, however, as Conforto moved up to third on a groundout and trotted home on a Bruce single to give the Mets a 5-4 lead that would ultimately stick.
Chacín recorded the first out of the seventh inning before giving way to Boone Logan, who promptly surrendered a homer to switch-hitter Asdrúbal Cabrera that upped New York's lead to 6-4.
Chacín allowed eight hits, five runs (earned) and a walk with three strikeouts in his 89-pitch outing.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
REMEMBER WHEN: The Brewers set a new franchise record on Saturday with nine players both scoring and driving in a run. The previous record of eight had been accomplished 10 times previously, most recently in a 15-5 victory over Arizona on Oct. 7, 2001. The Diamondbacks' leadoff hitter and shortstop that day? Current Brewers manager Craig Counsell.
BRAUN OUT AGAIN: For the second time in four days since coming off the disabled list, Ryan Braun was out of the starting lineup. Braun has not started consecutive games since May 12-13. He went on the DL on May 17 with middle back tightness.
"I kind of mapped out the first four days coming out of the DL stint and this was just how we were going to do it," Counsell said.
Braun did make an appearance in the seventh as a pinch-hitter, and then remained in the game in left.
LOVE THE GLOVE: The Brewers haven't committed an error through the first seven games of their homestand. They had 21 errors in their first 19 games — most in the major leagues — but since then have committed just 11 over their next 35. That's tied for the fewest in the National League and fourth-fewest in the majors over that span.
GETTING ON: Shaw's second-inning walk extended his on-base streak to 13 games, which is the longest by a Brewers player this season and the third-longest of his career. Shaw reached base in 15 consecutive games last season with the Brewers and in 2015 while playing for the Boston Red Sox.
STARTS UP TOP: Over the final two games of the series, Cain and Yelich combined to get on base in 15 of their 22 plate appearances and score 10 runs.
"They’re good hitters, good offensive players," Counsell said. "When that’s how you start out the lineup every day, with the two of them right at the top, it hopefully makes it challenging for the other team."