Brewers punish Astros 10-1 to sweep series

[KFDM COOP]

Brewers punish Astros 10-1 to sweep series

MILWAUKEE — It was still the fourth inning when Cecil Cooper felt compelled to call on his third of five pitchers Sunday afternoon at Miller Park. By then, it was pretty clear the Astros would extend their season-high losing streak to five games and suffer their first sweep of the year.

The Milwaukee Brewers batted around the order during a four-run rally in the first against Shawn Chacon. Then they were even more productive while sending 12 batters to the plate during a six-run rally in the fourth against Jack Cassel and Wesley Wright.

The Astros never recovered from the first inning, much less the fourth, while the Brewers completed the three-game sweep with a 10–1 victory before a sellout crowd of 44,613. The offense wasn’t much better against Dave Bush (2-5), who claimed his second victory of the season after holding the Astros to one run on four hits with five strikeouts.

If Milwaukee manager Ned Yost had not already started most of his bench players anyway, he might have cleared his bench after the fourth inning against the floundering Astros.

The Astros, who have scored only six runs on their losing streak, are now 1-5 on their trip through St. Louis, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

Chacon (2-1) was pulled after giving up four runs on two hits and two walks with two hit batters and two strikeouts over one inning. Cassel gave up six hits and six runs (four earned) with one walk and three strikeouts over 2 1/3 innings.

The Astros will take Monday off before starting a three-game series against the Pirates at PNC Park on Tuesday night.

After striking out the first two Brewers, Chacon nicked Ryan Braun with a pitch. Chacon almost picked off Braun at first, but first base umpire Fieldin Culbreth ruled that Braun got back in time on the close play.

Even worse, Chacon bounced his next pickoff attempt by Lance Berkman for an error. Prince Fielder followed with a walk. Then Corey Hart hit a grounder to short, where Miguel Tejada fielded the ball cleanly and made a solid throw to first.

Hart hustled down the line and got Culbreth to rule him safe. Berkman took the throw, put his head down and started running off the field thinking the inning was over. At that same time, Braun was sprinting home to tie the score at 1. Replays showed that Culbreth erred on his call, but the Astros had little recourse even though Berkman and manager Cecil Cooper argued.

Chacon walked Russell Branyan to load the bases. The Brewers took a 2-1 lead when Chacon’s 1-2 pitch tailed in and hit Mike Rivera. Craig Counsell added a two-run single to right field to give Milwaukee a 4-1 lead.

The Brewers jumped on Cassel in the fourth. Joe Dillon drew a leadoff walk, and Gabe Kapler followed with an RBI triple to center. Braun added a two-run homer to right. Cassel’s troubles continued when he failed to catch Berkman’s toss while covering first base on Fielder’s grounder to the right side.

Fielder reached on the error. One out later, Branyan hit a two-run home run to left field. Cassel was finally pulled after Rivera singled to left. Counsell greeted Wright with a single to center. After Bush struck out, Wright walked Dillon to load the bases and then walked Kapler to give the Brewers a 10-1 lead.