Brewers nip White Sox in 10 innings
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After nine innings of scoreless baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers and Rickie Weeks broke through in the 10th inning for a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox in the first of a three-game set.
Zack Greinke (8-2) gave up only three hits in nine shutout innings en route to the win. Greinke never allowed a runner to get past first base.
"It was a little off and on early," Greinke said. "Got some breaks, some line drives hit at people, and then kind of settled."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aramis Ramirez was one of the few offensive bright spots in the game. He went 2-for-4 with a double, which led to the winning run in the 10th.
Chris Sale, coming off a rocky outing against the Dodgers in which he gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings, received a no-decision despite throwing eight shutout innings, striking out seven and giving up only four hits.
"They can throw hard and all that, but just moving it in and out, back and forth, both of them were doing that all night," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "It's not just one pitch that they have."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jesse Crain (1-1) took the loss for the White Sox, who have lost seven of their last nine games.
Neither side mustered much offense in the first nine innings. The Brewers had the best opportunity to score in the fifth after Weeks lofted a double into the right-field corner with one out. After Weeks advanced to third on a wild pitch, Sale rebounded to strike out Cody Ransom and Martin Maldonado to get out of the inning.
The Brewers finally got on the board in the 10th when Ramirez started the inning with a double to left field. Two batters later, Nyjer Morgan, who came on to pinch run for Ramirez, reached third on a wild pitch. With a drawn-in infield, Weeks lined a single past the out-stretched glove of third baseman Orlando Hudson to score Morgan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You want something up in the zone," Weeks said. "He threw some pretty good cutters, sliders early on in the count. I was looking dead red. After that, I was just trying to put the ball in play, really, and hit it hard."
John Axford, who has already blown three saves in June, worked around a lead- off walk to pick up his 13th save of the season.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sale has a 1.62 earned run average (nine earned runs in 50 1/3 innings) with 56 strike outs in his last seven starts...Sale has a 0.56 ERA (two earned runs in 32 innings) over his last four home starts...Ryan Braun extended his interleague hitting streak to 26 games...The Brewers are 4-18 when not hitting a home run...Greinke entered the night with a 1-7 record with a 6.48 ERA (36 earned runs in 50 innings) at U.S. Cellular Field...The White Sox did not have an at-bat with a runner in scoring position and left only one man on base...The Brewers went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base.