Homers Lift Brewers Past Cardinals, White Sox Beat Orioles

BY ESPN

Milwaukee's Keon Broxton is quickly gaining a reputation at Busch Stadium. His tape measure home run Thursday night furthered that narrative.

Broxton and Eric Thames homered to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Thames' 18th of the season off Cardinals closer Seung Hwan Oh (1-3) in the ninth barely skimmed over the right field wall and broke a 4-4 tie as the NL Central-leading Brewers won their second straight series against the Cardinals and improved to 36-32. Milwaukee had gone 0-15-2 in the previous 17 series.

Broxton drilled the first pitch he saw 489 feet into the left field seats to tie the game 2-2 in the second. It is the longest home run in Busch Stadium III's history and the second-longest this season in the major leagues.

"I was shocked. I'm blessed to be able to do that," Broxton said. "There's a lot of players that came through this ballpark and hit a lot of home runs here, so for mine to be the longest is definitely a blessing."

Broxton is hitting .450 (9 for 20) with three homers and seven RBI in six games this season at Busch Stadium.

"In BP he hit a ball the same distance, the same spot," Thames said. "It was halfway to center field. It was a blast. That homer was like the same exact spot. It was a shot. He's a strong guy, very lanky. When the ball hits his barrel, he's a strong cat."

Domingo Santana's single scored Eric Sogard to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the third.

For the second consecutive start, Brewers right-hander Zach Davies gave up four runs in five innings. He gave up nine hits and struck out one.

Oliver Drake earned his first career save for the Brewers. Josh Hader and Carlos Torres (3-4) combined for three scoreless innings of relief.

"Hats off to those guys in the bullpen tonight," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Josh, Carlos and Oliver handled big innings in tight situations the whole way, six through nine, they did a heck of a job."

Stephen Piscotty and Aledmys Diaz had RBI singles to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the first.

Dexter Fowler tied it for the Cardinals with a solo home run in the third and again with a single scoring Matt Carpenter in the fifth.

Carpenter doubled in the first and fifth, scoring both times. He has doubled in six straight games.

Michael Wacha struggled again, giving up four runs in four innings. It is the fourth of his last five starts that the Cardinals right-hander failed to go five innings.

The Cardinals have lost three straight and fell to 30-35.

"We're not a team that should be below .500 and that's where we are and it's frustrating and I don't know how to say it in any other way," Carpenter said. "This is not something we're used to and it's not something we enjoy and it's not fun."

White Sox 5, Orioles 2

Rookie Matt Davidson keeps powering the Chicago White Sox.

Davidson homered for the fourth straight game, then doubled and scored in a four-run sixth inning to lead Chicago over Baltimore 5-2 on Thursday, the Orioles' seventh loss in eight games.

Davidson hit a solo homer in the fourth, his 14th home run this season. He became the first White Sox player to go deep in four straight games since Alex Rios in April 2013.

Davidson broke his right foot while running the bases in his White Sox debut last June 30 and missed the remainder of the season.

"I think I'm just maturing as a player and understanding my swing a little better," Davidson said. "We made some pretty drastic swing changes two years ago going into `16, and I had a lot of time to reflect on what to improve as I was rehabbing last offseason."

Chicago manager Rick Renteria has used the 26-year-old mostly at designated hitter.

"He's been able to drive the ball out of the ballpark," Renteria said. "He's been able to get to pitches he can handle."

Caleb Joseph's RBI double in the fifth tied the score 1-1, but Melky Cabrera hit a two-run single in the sixth that chased Chris Tillman (1-5).

Chicago opened a 5-1 lead when Jimmy Yacabonis, making his third big league appearance, loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk to Tim Anderson, threw a head-high 3-2 pitch for ball four to Jose Abreu and allowed Leury Garcia's sacrifice fly.

Anthony Swarzak (3-1) allowed two hits in 1 2/3 scoreless innings to win in relief of David Holmberg, who gave up four hits in 4 1/3 innings. David Robertson allowed Welington Castillo's ninth-inning homer, his second in two games.

Chicago took three of four games in the series.

Tillman lost his fifth straight start, allowing five runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander has been pounded for 28 runs and 40 hits over 20 1/3 innings during his skid, raising his ERA to 8.07.

In his previous outing, on Saturday against the Yankeees, Tillman allowed a career-high nine runs in 1 1/3 innings.

"Yeah, I think it was much better," Tillman said. "Pitch here and there could've been better, but for the most part it was a step in the right direction."

Baltimore's ace last season at 16-6, Tillman missed spring training this year and started the season on the disabled list with shoulder bursitis. He beat the White Sox on May 7 in his first game this season.

"Chris has got a good track record, and he's going to pitch better," manager Buck Showalter said.

Avisail Garcia, who entered hitting an AL-leading .339, had two singles in three at-bats to extend his hitting streak to eight games before being ejected in the fifth after first base umpire Paul Emmel ruled he didn't check his swing on an 0-2 pitch in the dirt.

Garcia raised his arms and pointed to his right eye with his left hand, earning his ejection. Renteria came out to argue and also was tossed.

"I'm sure I'll hear about it," Renteria said.

Garcia was thrown out of a game for the first time in his big league career and Renteria was booted for the second time this season and eighth time in his career. Leury Garcia, who had sat out since Sunday when he injured his left hand on sliding into second base, replaced Avisail Garcia in center field.

Thursday, June 15 Scoreboard

Cleveland 12, Los Angeles Dodgers 5

Minnesota 6, Seattle 2

Chicago White Sox 5, Baltimore 2

Philadelphia 1, Boston 0

Washington 8, New York Mets 3

Detroit 5, Tampa Bay 3

Milwaukee 6, St. Louis 4

Colorado 10, San Francisco 9

Oakland 8, New York Yankees 7 (F/10)

Kansas City 7, Los Angeles Angels 2

Friday, June 16 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at New York Mets, 6 p.m.

St. Louis at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Arizona at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Seattle at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

San Diego at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Boston at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

New York Yankees at Oakland, 8;35 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles Angels, 9:07 p.m.

Saturday, June 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago White sox at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Baltimore, 3:05 p.m.

New York Yankees at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Arizona at Philadelphia, 3:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 3:10 p.m.

San Diego at Milwaukee, 3:10 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 3:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati, 3:10 p.m.

Washington at New York Mets, 3:10 p.m.

Seattle at Texas, 4:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Kansas city at Los Angeles Angels, 7:15 p.m.

Boston at Houston, 7:15 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, 7:15 p.m.

Sunday, June 18 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago White Sox at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati, 12:10 p.m.

Washington at New York Mets, 12:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at PIttsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

St. Louis at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Arizona at Philadelphia, 12:35 p.m.

San Diego at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Seattle at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

San Francisco at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles Angels, 2:37 p.m.

New York Yankees at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Boston at Houston, 7 p.m.