Junior Guerra File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Milwaukee Brewers fell out of first place in the NL Central Division, falling to the Chicago Cubs 7-2 in 11 innings on Monday night at Miller Park.
It’s the seventh straight loss for the Brewers in their series with the Cubs this season, falling to 1-8 overall against their rivals to the south.
Ryan Braun took a home run away from Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras in the sixth inning, but the Cubs finally got to Josh Hader in the 8th. They tied the game 2-2 when Jason Heyward singled to drive in Ben Zobrist.
Anthony Rizzo’s go-ahead solo home run ignited a five-run 11th inning to lift the Cubs to the victory. The Cubs scored all five runs off of reliever Matt Albers.
It was the first time in 22 games that Josh Hader pitched in, that the Brewers failed to win.
Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief before Albers came in to lose it.
The Brewers got solo home runs from Eric Kratz and Jonathan Villar and a strong six-inning outing from Junior Guerra to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Junior Guerra worked a strong six innings before he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh.
The Brewers have now been outscored 36-11 by the Cubs this season and trail Chicago by a half game atop the NL Central. Game two of the series is tonight. Chase Anderson will get the nod for the Brewers.