Tyrone Taylor hit his first career grand slam during Milwaukee’s six-run seventh inning, and the Brewers opened a three-game series against the visiting Chicago White Sox with a 7-1 victory on Friday night.
Rowdy Tellez had two hits, two RBIs and reached base three times for Milwaukee, which snapped a five-game home losing streak.
Andrew Vaughn had three hits, including a home run off Hunter Strickland in the eighth inning for Chicago’s lone run. The White Sox were held to five hits in the matchup between division leaders.
With Milwaukee managing Freddy Peralta’s innings, the right-hander exited as planned after allowing one hit over four innings. He struck out five while throwing 51 pitches.
Adrian Houser (6-5) followed Peralta and earned the victory with two scoreless innings.
Milwaukee opened the scoring with a run in the fourth inning. White Sox starter Lucas Giolito allowed back-to-back singles with one out before walking Luis Urias to load the bases.
Tellez followed with a run-scoring single to shallow center field, but the Brewers left the bases loaded when Giolito retired Taylor and Jace Peterson to end the inning.
Giolito (8-7) allowed one run on six hits over six innings. He struck out three and issued a season-high five walks.
Milwaukee broke the game open with six runs in the seventh, when they sent nine batters to the plate and capitalized on four Chicago walks.
Kolten Wong led off with a single off of Aaron Bummer, who walked the next two batters to load the bases. After Wong scored on Avisail Garcia’s grounder, Bummer struck out Omar Narvaez for the second out.
Ryan Burr replaced Bummer and walked Urias to load the bases again, and Tellez walked to make the score 3-0 before Taylor cleared the bases with a home run inside the left-field foul pole.
Manager Tony La Russa and shortstop Tim Anderson were ejected for the White Sox, whose pitchers issued nine walks. La Russa’s ejection was his first since Aug. 10, 2011, when he managed the St. Louis Cardinals.
–Field Level Media