Milwaukee left-hander Brent Suter held the first place Chicago to just four hits over seven shutout innings and the Brewers went on to beat the Cubs 2-1 in their series opener at Miller Park on Friday night. Suter (2-1) walked one and struck out five before 42,575 fans at Miller Park.
The Brewers scored on a pair of RBI groundouts in the second and fourth innings and finished 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position, but it was enough to pull out the win and climb to within a half-game of the Cubs for the Central Division lead.
The Cubs only run came on a long solo home run off the bat of Javier Baez in the 8th inning. It came off of Brewers newcomer Anthony Swarzak. It was Swarzak’s first appearance as a Brewer.
The Cubs saw their nine-game road win streak snapped and while the Brewers were coming off a 2-8 road trip, they’ve now won 10 of their last 12 games at Miller Park.
Game two of the series is tonight (6:10 p.m.) at Miller Park. Junior Guerra (1-4, 5.22) goes for the Brewers and Kyle Hendricks (4-3, 3.95) gets the nod for the Cubs.