Jesus Aguilar hit his first two home runs of the season and starter Zach Davies was effective into the sixth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the visiting Colorado Rockies 5-1 on Monday in the opener of a four-game series.
The Brewers have won four consecutive games against the Rockies, counting the three-game sweep in last fall's National League Division Series, and have won 11 of their last 13 against Colorado.
Milwaukee won without Christian Yelich, who was kept out of the lineup with a strained lower back and is listed as day-to-day.
Aguilar, who hit 35 home runs last season, had gone 80 consecutive at-bats without a homer when he took Rockies starter Kyle Freeland over the wall in center field for a three-run shot in the first inning. Aguilar added a solo shot off Freeland to right field in the third inning. He finished with three hits and his first two-homer game since July 8 against Atlanta last season.
Orlando Arcia added an RBI single to center field in the first inning as the Brewers won for the third time in their last four games to start a 10-game homestand.
The Rockies ended a 24-inning scoreless streak against the Brewers, including the playoffs, on a David Dahl RBI single in the sixth inning that chased Davies from the game. The Rockies entered with 10 victories in their last 13 games and have won each of their last four series.
Freeland (2-4) settled down after giving up his second home run to Aguilar, retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced. The left-hander gave up five runs on six hits over six innings with two walks and three strikeouts.
Davies (3-0) gave up one run on three hits over 5 1/3 innings with three walks and two strikeouts, but needed 96 pitches to record his 16 outs. He has now given up two earned runs or fewer in all six of his starts but has not gone six innings since a victory over the Dodgers at Los Angeles on April 13.
The Rockies' Ian Desmond was ejected by home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson for arguing a called strike in the fifth inning.
Desmond's ejection came a half inning after he made a diving catch in the left-center field gap on a drive by Yasmani Grandal.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Milwaukee | |
Kyle Freeland | Player | Zach Davies |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 5.1 |
3 | Strikeouts | 2 |
6 | Hits | 3 |
7.50 | ERA | 0.00 |
Colorado | Milwaukee | |
Kyle Freeland | Player | Jesus Aguilar |
1 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 4 |
0 | HR | 2 |
1 | TB | 9 |
1.000 | Avg | .750 |