Brewers manager Craig Counsell – Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Milwaukee Brewers are quickly becoming one of the top stories in Major League Baseball. With the rest of the NL Central Division struggling, the rebuilding Brewers enter the all-star break with 50 wins and a 5 1/2 game lead over both the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.
The Brewers beat the New York Yankees 5-3 on Sunday, their ninth win in the last 11 games.
Travis Shaw went 2-for-4 with a home run and four rbi’s. Shaw enters the all-star break with a .299 average, 19 home runs and 65 rbi’s. Stephen Vogt also homered in the win, his fourth of the season.
Jimmy Nelson (8-4) allowed three runs in five innings to earn the victory. Manager Craig Counsell got four innings from his bullpen, including a four-out save for Corey Knebel (14th), who just a day earlier, had served up a walk-off home run to the Yankees.
Knebel is the only Brewers player selected to take part in Tuesday’s Major League Baseball all-star game.
In their 91 games before the all-star break, the Brewers have scored 81 first inning runs.
AUDIO: Craig Counsell on the Brewers 1st inning success :20
The Brewers reached the all-star break in first place for just the fifth time in franchise history. They held on to make the playoffs in 1982 and 2011.
The Brewers won’t return to action until Friday, when they host the Philadelphia Phillies.