The Milwaukee Brewers inched closer to first-place Chicago and pulled away from St. Louis with a 6-4 win over the Cardinals Monday. With five games to go in the regular season, Milwaukee trails the Cubs by a game-and-a-half and is three up on St. Louis. Eric Thames tripled in the eighth inning, then scored the winning run on a throwing error. Ryan Braun and Christian Yelich drove in two runs apiece as the Brewers built a lead, gave it up, then came from behind to win for the fourth time in five games. Braun says that all of these games are important.
Corbin Burnes earned the victory in a game where manager Craig Counsell used nine pitchers, and says they are close to reaching their goal of making the playoffs.
One of the pitchers utilized by Counsell, Dan Jennings, spoke about his experience coming out of the bullpen as opposed to starting.
Lefty Gio Gonzalez starts tonight’s second contest of the critical three-game series.
NL Central Division Match-Ups
Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Chicago Cubs 1
Cincinnati Reds had the night off
NL Central Standings NL Wild Card Race
Chicago Cubs – Milwaukee Brewers +3.0
Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 St. Louis Cardinals —
St. Louis Cardinals -4.5 Colorado Rockies -0.5
Pittsburgh Pirates -11.5
Cincinnati Reds -25.5