Overbay Traded to Toronto!
Brewers Beat Back Cubs
Cirillo Wins it in Ninth
Dennis Jenders
Wednesday night's game was tense as the Cubs almost came back in the ninth against our Brewers. But in the bottom of the ninth with the game tied 6-6 Jeff Cirillo came on for Derreck Turnbow, who blew his fourth save on the year, and with one out he hit the gaming winning single to get the Brewers within one game of .500.
The Brewers scored with an RBI double in the first from Carlos Lee, plating J.J. Hardy. But the Cubs struck back in the top of the second when Mark Prior singled to center to tie the game. Prior would help his own cause again in the fourth when he had another RBI single to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
But the Brewers fought back as Brady Clark hit a ball that barely cleared the wall in left center to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The see-saw battle didn't end there as the Cubs, backed by a largely Chicago crowd, scored two more in the seventh when Nomar Garciaparra doubled to right field to score Jose Macias. The Cubs would get an extra run as Rickie Weeks short-hopped the throw to Damian Miller at the plate allowing MVP hopeful Derrick Lee to score on the play giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh the Brewers struck back with a single from Bill Hall. Hall had many opportunities on the night and finally cashed in when his single plated Lyle Overbay and Brady Clark. With a 5-4 lead in the eighth the Brewers put the squeeze on as J.J. Hardy reached ona fielders choice and Damian Miller came home to give the Brewers an insurance run. It turns out they would need it.
After a strong outing from Tomo Ohka; six innings, seven hits, two walks and two earned runs, Justin Lehr and Dana Eveland combined for just one run on two innings. Derreck Turnbow was handed a two-run lead in the ninth but failed to convert the save as Lee would hit an RBI single and Jeromy Burnitz would add one more to tie the game.
And in the bottom of the ninth after the Cubs brought on Ryan Dempster to face Damian Miller and struck him out Cirillo was called from the bench to provide the pop needed to win the game. Cirillo laced Dempster's changeup to left field to bring home Hall and the winning run. It was a tough game and the Brewers came out on the winning side. With 11 games left the Brewers need to win at least 6 to end with a .500 record. They finish their series with the Cubs Thursday afternoon.