Cubs vs Brewers Game 1, July 28th

Monday, the Milwaukee Brewers hosted their 8th consecutive sellout crowd as they hosted the Central Division leading Chicago Cubs. Newly acquired Brewers Co-Ace CC Sabathia took the hill for the 5th time in a Brewers uniform. Having pitched 3 consecutive complete games, expectations for Sabathia were high. Alfonso Soriano started the game of with a bang as he hit a long doule off of the top of the wall in left-center. Derek Lee singled in Soriano to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead. Soriano then hit a solo homerun off Sabathia in the top of the third to stretch the Cubs lead to 2-0. Cubs starting pitcher Ted Lilly, had been giving the Brewer hitters fits until the bottom of the 6th when JJ Hardy took Lilly deep for his 15th homerun of the season. Ryan Braun then sent a Ted Lilly pitch deep into the left field bleachers to tie the game at 2. Prince Fielder then singled, and Corey Hart hit a double scoring the big fella all the way from first and giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead. CC Sabathia struggled a little in the 6th, but looked to get out of the inning unscaved when Derek Lee hit a ground ball to JJ Hardy with the bases loaded and 1 out. JJ got the out at 2nd after flipping the ball to Rickie Weeks, but Weeks made a terrible throw to first and 2 runs scored. The Cubs took the lead 4-3 and Sabathia exited the game throwing 124 pitches. Russell Branyan pinch hit in the bottom of the 7th and hit a solo homerun to tie the game at 4. In the top of the 9th, Salomon Torres walked 2 batters with 1 out, then Derek Lee doubled in 1 run followed by a Mark DaRosa RBI-infield single. The Cubs took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the 9th. Cubs closer Carlos Marmol came in and quickly struck out both Bill Hall and Mike Cameron, and walked Jason Kendall. Gabe Kapler sent a sharply hit fly ball to the warning track, where Alfonso Soriano caught it and ended the game. The Brewers fall to the Cubs with a final score of 6-4.

Tonight’s Most Valuable Brewer: Ryan Braun 1-3 with his 29th homerun and 81st RBI of the season.