Fire up the grills
Cain’s two-homer game includes three-run blast in 10th
CHICAGO -- Welcome back, Lorenzo Cain.
Playing for the first time after an oblique issue sidelined him for three games, the veteran centerfielder hit not one but a pair of go-ahead home runs on Wednesday afternoon.
The second was easily the biggest, a three-run shot in the 10th inning that delivered a 4-2 victory from the jaws of defeat against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
It was Cain's leadoff homer in the eighth that gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead on the heels of a dominating start from Brandon Woodruff.
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Brewers at Cardinals, 3:15 p.m. Thursday. Bally Sports Wis.
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The game then turned on a dime when Devin Williams allowed a game-tying homer to Joc Pederson in the bottom of the frame. But after he and Josh Hader combined to get
the game into extra innings, Cain delivered again.
Pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach set the stage by singling to open the 10th, moving Daniel Robertson to third.
That brought Cain to the plate, and he drilled the third pitch he saw from Brandon Workman just into the basket in straightaway center to finally give the Brewers a cushion.
“It’s great to have him back in there, it’s great to have him in the middle of some wins already,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think we all see the significance of him being back. He’s a big-game player. He loves the big moments and his competitiveness rubs off on everybody.”
Chicago scored once against J.P. Feyereisen in the bottom of the 10th and loaded the bases with two outs before veteran Brad Boxberger got Ian Happ to fly out to earn the save and Milwaukee the series victory.
Woodruff had fired first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 18 batters he’d faced and his pitch count stood at just 56 when he took his budding no-hitter to the seventh.
He uncharacteristically fell behind, 3-1, against Happ before Happ sent a hard ground ball up the middle against the shift that Robertson made a diving try on but failed to glove.
After Eric Sogard flew out, Anthony Rizzo hit what appeared to be a double-play grounder only to see the relay throw from Luis Urías sail wide after a hard slide.
Woodruff then battled Kris Bryant for seven pitches before he lofted a high fly ball to short right that Avisaíl García got a late jump on but nevertheless was able to haul in with a terrific sliding catch.
Then Cain led off the eighth with a homer to left. It came on a 3-1 pitch and was off – in an interesting twist – Alec Mills, who no-hit the Brewers last Sept. 13 in Milwaukee.
The one run was all Milwaukee could muster, though, and the lead didn’t last long.
With Woodruff having thrown 18 pitches to get through the seventh and having sat for a bit in the bottom half of the frame, Counsell went with Williams for the eighth.
The right-hander, who was so masterful
in being named both the National League’s reliever and rookie of the year in 2020, threw only four pitches before Pederson took him out to rightcenter on his fifth.
The blast, which tied the game at 1-1, matched the total Williams allowed in 27 innings in 2020. It also left him with one more run allowed on his ledger in two appearances in 2021 than he allowed in his 22 outings last year.
“He made a mistake, not locating a fastball to Pederson. But he deserves some credit for hitting a 96-mph fastball,” Counsell said. “This season was not going to be the same for Devin WIlliams. The league presents players with challenges. It’s incredible at doing that. Devin and I had that conversation this offseason.
“Devin threw the ball great today. He’s going to be really good this year and I thought today was a big step forward from Monday night.”
Woodruff, meanwhile, struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk in his 74pitch outing.
The Cubs hit only three balls hard prior to Happ’s single, and he also got help from Christian Yelich and his sliding catch in the sixth. The only baserunner Chicago managed before the seventh reached on a throwing error by Robertson in the third, but Robertson turned a 4-3 double play one batter later to atone.
“I know the pitch count, that’s really low considering the innings,” Woodruff said. “But after that inning, once Happ got the hit there I knew I had to kind of empty the tank in a sense and even though it wasn’t that many pitches, the (ups and downs between innings) is what gets you a little bit.
“I think it was the right move. Hopefully going forward, if I get through seven on (74) pitches they’ll have to pretty much rip me off the mound to take me out. But it’s still early and I was glad they pulled out that win.”
Record
3-3.
Coming up
Thursday: Brewers at Cardinals, 3:15 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (0-1, 1.42) vs. St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (0-1, 20.25). TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.