Brewers 8, Nationals 5
By Andrew Wagner, The SportsXChange
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers scored five times in the sixth inning and avoided a three-game sweep with an 8-5 victory over the Washington Nationals Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
Milwaukee had managed just two runs in its previous three games and appeared to be headed to another shutout, this time against Washington right-hander Taylor Jordan.
Jordan cruised through his first five innings, facing just three over the minimum - yielding two hits and a walk -- before opening the sixth by giving up a single to Logan Schafer. Schafer moved to third on Jean Segura's double, and after Jonathan Lucroy walked, Schafer scored on Carlos Gomez's sacrifice fly to right.
With runners at the corners and only one out, Nationals manager Davey Johnson summoned lefty Fernando Abad (0-3) from the bullpen.
Milwaukee got within one when Khris Davis' chopper bounced over shortstop Ian Desmond to drive in a run. Juan Francisco -- 3-for-27 against left-handers this season -- tied the game with a double down the right-field line, and Milwaukee went ahead on Jeff Bianchi's base hit into shallow center that drove in two more for a 6-4 lead.
Jordan finished with a final line of four runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings but took his fourth loss of the season.
The Brewers added insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings, and Jim Henderson threw a scoreless ninth for his 15th save of the season.
The late offensive outburst snapped a three-game scoring drought and helped offset a rare poor start by right-hander Kyle Lohse.
Lohse hit Jayson Werth to open the second and, with one out, hit Desmond. Steve Lombardozzi loaded the bases with a single to center, and Kurt Suzuki made it a 2-0 game with a base hit up the middle.
Another run scored when Lucroy couldn't hold on to Jordan's pop bunt, giving the Nationals a 3-0 lead, before Denard Span and Bryce Harper ended the inning with fly outs to left.
It would be a short start for Lohse, who came into the game with a 6-1 record and 2.29 ERA in his last 12 appearances. Sunday, he hit two batters and allowed a walk over his five-inning effort, finishing with three runs allowed -- only two earned -- on five hits with two strikeouts.
Adam LaRoche hit his 16th home run of the season in the sixth, a solo shot against Milwaukee right-hander John Axford (5-4), and Anthony Rendon hit his fifth of the season to open the seventh.
NOTES: Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said before the game that 3B Aramis Ramirez could be activated this week and used as a DH when Milwaukee visits Seattle and Texas. ... The Nationals' have taken the season series in consecutive seasons for the first time since the team moved from Montreal for the 2005 season. ... Lucroy's seventh-inning RBI was his 56th as a catcher this season, the most by any at the position in MLB.
