Wily Peralta deserved a better fate, pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing 6-hits in the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.
Milwaukee jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then the bats dried up. When Peralta left, the bullpen squandered the lead, like they’ve done so many times already this season, and came out on the losing end.
Once again, manager Ron Roenicke called on John Axford in a high-pressure situation. Axford took over for Michael Gonzalez with two outs in the 7th inning and got Alfonso Soriano to fly out to center field.
Because Jim Henderson and Tom Gorzelanny were unable to pitch, Roenicke sent Axford back out for the 8th inning. He promptly loaded the bases and was replaced by Alfredo Figaro, who surrendered Scott Hairston’s sacrifice fly to center which plated one run. That was followed by a David DeJesus 2-run single to right to close out the scoring.
The Brewers can still salvage the series with a win tonight. They’ll send Kyle Lohse to the mound for his second start with the Brewers. Scott Feldman goes for the Cubs.