Milwaukee, WI – Jonathan Lucroy hit two homers and drove in four, and Mark Rogers picked up his first career win as the Milwaukee Brewers cruised past the Chicago Cubs, 9-5, in the opener of a three-game set at Miller Park.
Rogers (1-1) gave up three runs on five hits and struck out seven over five frames.
"It feels great, it's been a long time coming," Rogers said. "I feel very good about it. Tonight wasn't my best effort of the year. The bullpen came in and really shut (the Cubs) out. When I came out and we were behind I didn't expect to get the win. Getting those eight runs in the fifth really picked me up."
Carlos Gomez added a solo homer and Corey Hart drove in two runs for the Brewers, who are coming off a four-game series split with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Josh Vitters smacked a homer and Anthony Rizzo had two hits, including an RBI double, for the Cubs, losers in four of their last five.
Justin Germano (2-3) was tagged for seven runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings to absorb the loss.
"I don't like giving up homers, obviously. I got ground balls that last inning, but they found holes," Germano said. "I tried to limit the damage that last inning, I just want to be as consistent as I can and put the bad games behind me."
The Cubs wasted no time and took a 1-0 lead in the first. David DeJesus doubled to open the game, stole third then scored on an ground-rule double from Rizzo.
The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the second but were only able to get one run. DeJesus lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field to plate Welington Castillio. Vitters popped up to short stop to end the inning.
Lucroy hit a homer in the home half to make it 2-1. Lucroy turned on a 1-0 sinker that bounced off the top of the fence in left field.
Vitters extended the gap to 3-1 in the fourth when he blasted his first career homer into the left field seats.
Milwaukee busted the game open with an eight-run fifth inning. Carlos Gomez opened the frame with a single, then moved to second on Jean Segura's ground out. Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa followed with a base hit to push Gomez across. Ishikawa moved to third when DeJesus' throw home squirted away from Lucroy.
Norichika Aoki scored Ishikawa with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center field.
Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun hit back-to-back singles and Aramis Ramirez drew a walk to load the bases. Hart followed with a line drive single to right field to score Weeks and Braun.
"It was nice to finally get him a win," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said of Rogers. "I though it his command was a little off, especially early. After a double play in the third his got command better. His fastball had good life on it but his breaking ball he left up in the zone. We were fortunate in the fifth to get some hits in a row."
Lucroy and Gomez then hit back-to-back homer to put the Brewers up 9-3. Lucroy ripped his second homer of the night, a three-run blast into the home bullpen and Gomez followed with one into the left field seats.
DeJesus scored Darwin Barney with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Castillo scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to make it 9-5.
Game Notes
The Brewers have hit seven back-to-back homers this season ... Lucroy has two multi-homer games in his career ... Injured Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum made his third rehab assignment with Single-A Wisconsin Monday. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out three over six innings to earn the win ... The Cubs are 2-6 are Miller Park this season, and 50-48 all-time ... Barney extended his errorless streak to 106-games, a Chicago Cubs record.
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