Wilson’s walk-off
Contreras homers in 15th, series now even
CHICAGO — Willson Contreras homered in the 15th inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.
Contreras turned on a 1-2 pitch f rom Burch Smith (0-1), sending a long shot to left field that gave Chicago its 11th win in 13 games. He spun and flipped his bat toward the Cubs’ dugout as the ball sailed toward the bleachers and was mobbed by teammates when he crossed the plate.
Chicago moved back ahead of the Brewers for the NL Central lead after falling into a virtual tie with Friday’s 7-0 loss. Milwaukee had its seasonhigh seven-game win streak snapped.
Tyler Chatwood (2-0) struck out seven in four innings to cap a strong effort by the bullpen after Cole Hamels worked seven solid innings.
Hamels gave up a run and three hits in his fourth straight no-decision. Seven relievers combined to give up one hit the rest of the way.
M i l w a u k e e ’s Zach Davies held Chicago to one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.54 through eight starts. But the Brewers, who won an 18-inning marathon against the New York Mets one week earlier, couldn’t push ahead in their longest game ever against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Both teams scored in the fifth, with Hernan Perez hitting a solo homer off Hamels and Albert Almora Jr. tying it in the bottom half with an RBI double.
The Cubs activated lefthanded reliever Xavier Cedeno from the 10-day injured list and placed right-hander Allen Webster on it because of an inflamed nerve in his pitching arm.
Signed in February, Cedeno had been sidelined since spring training because of inflammation in his left wrist.