Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-4 and scored twice for the Chicago Cubs, who avoided the sweep with a 10-3 win in the finale of a three-game set against the host Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.
Starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (8-4) struck out eight while allowing three runs on five hits in five innings for the Cubs.
Freddy Peralta (12-5) was tagged for five runs on five hits over four innings for the Brewers, who had won three straight.
Tied 1-1 in the third, Chicago capitalized to take the lead. After Kyle Tucker singled and Seiya Suzuki drew a walk, Crow-Armstrong knocked a double past a diving Brice Turang into right field to drive in Tucker and put the Cubs ahead 2-1.
Carson Kelly then reached on a fielder’s choice with Suzuki tagged out at home, and Peralta walked Nico Hoerner to load the bases.
That brought up Moises Ballesteros, the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect who was recalled from Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday morning. The rookie delivered a bases-clearing double to left field, scoring Crow-Armstrong, Kelly and Hoerner for a 5-1 advantage.
William Contreras’ second home run of the day narrowed it to 5-2 in the fourth inning, and Sal Frelick’s sacrifice fly in the fifth drove in Joey Ortiz to pull the Brewers within 5-3.
Chicago responded in the sixth. Justin Turner led it off with a pinch-hit a double off reliever DL Hall, and Dansby Swanson brought him in with a double of his own to make it 6-3.
Hall exited after Matt Shaw singled, replaced by Jared Koenig, who gave up a double to Tucker, scoring Swanson and Shaw to extend it to 8-3.
Crow-Armstrong added another when he scored on Hoerner’s sacrifice fly, and Ian Happ homered to right-center to make it 10-3.
Michael Busch opened the scoring on the first pitch of the game, sending it over the wall in right-center field to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Contreras tied it in the bottom half with a home run of his own, mashing a splitter from Imanaga to left field.
–Field Level Media
