The Milwaukee Brewers barely got by the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of their series and look to make it two in a row tonight at Miller Park.
Milwaukee was aided by a replay review when Aramis Ramirez clubbed the go- ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in Monday's 7-6 victory. The ball was originally thought to have gone foul, but after further review the slugging third baseman was given the green light to round the bases.
Ramirez spoke of the instant replay option after the game.
"That means they're going to get the call right," Ramirez said. "That's what it's all about. Because of that, we won the game tonight. ... I think it was a homer, because if that hit the wall [in foul territory], it would have come back a little harder. That hit the wall and stayed right there, so I figured I had a home run."
Ramirez went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs, while Rickie Weeks had two hits and two RBI for Milwaukee, which has won three of its last four games. Ryan Braun had a hit to extend his streak to 13 games (23 during interleague play). He is 19-for-57 with five homers and 12 RBI in the past 13 contests.
Randy Wolf started for the Brewers and was reached for four runs over 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision. Kameron Loe got the last two outs of the seventh for the win and John Axford closed the door in the ninth for his 12th save.
The Brewers were scheduled to send Shaun Marcum to the mound Tuesday, but tightness in his right elbow will prevent him from making the start. Milwaukee could go with Tyler Thornburg from Double-A. He is 8-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 13 starts.
Milwaukee could also pull someone from the bullpen, too.
The Blue Jays opened a nine-game trek last night and had their three-game winning streak come to an end. Brett Lawrie, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion all homered for the Jays, who swept Philadelphia in three games over the weekend. Bautista's blast was a three-run shot in the seventh.
Henderson Alvarez allowed six runs in four innings, while Robert Coello gave up Ramirez's home run to suffer the loss.
"He gave up a number of two out hits with runners in scoring position," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said of Alvarez. "We've got to get him straightened out because of the situation with our pitching right now. We've got to get more than four innings from him and not have an adverse effect on our bullpen."
Bautista owns eight homers in his last 15 games and has reached base safely in the previous 18.
Toronto's rotation is currently decimated by injuries, opening the door for Jesse Chavez in Tuesday's middle portion of this series. Chavez will make his first major league start and is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in one relief appearance this season at Texas back on May 27.
Chavez, a right-hander, was called up Monday and is 7-2 with a 3.84 ERA in 12 starts with Triple-A Las Vegas this season. In 12 career relief outings against the Brewers, Chavez is 0-2 with a 14.29 ERA.
Milwaukee swept the Jays in three games the last time these two clubs met from June 17-19, 2008 at Miller Park.
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