Milwaukee Brewers: 250 Words or Less: 8/28/11

The Milwaukee Brewers continued their dominance over the Chicago Cubs with their second straight series sweep, finishing this afternoon 3-2.

Milwaukee came dangerously close to giving this one up, but in the end prevailed as the better team. Two rare things happened to closer John Axford today: he gave up a run, his first in 10 appearances, and he got to 40 saves for the second time in team history, a fantastic accomplishment. Axford gave up a home run and got into some trouble but fought through it. He still held on to cap off a great game by Zack Greinke.

Greinke lifted his season record to 13-5, 10-0 at home, by crushing through 7.2 innings. He got pulled at the first sign of trouble in the 8th, but still took advantage of a less than stellar Cubs lineup. The starters have looked great through their last rotation, and besides one tough outing by LaTroy Hawkins, the bullpen has been near perfect.

The Brewers shut down on offense late, but did enough early on to walk away winners. They attacked immediately in the first for a run and got a 2-run home run by Corey Hart in the 5th. Ahead of Hart’s homer was a single and stolen base by Greinke. It wasn’t an impressive offensive battle, but once again, the Brewers’ bare minimum is enough to beat most teams.

Another off-day follows before the Shaun Marcum welcome the 2nd place (still by 10.5 games) St. Louis Cardinals. It won’t be mathematically over for a few weeks, but this could be a nail in the coffin series for the division race.

Follow me on Twitter (@MilwaukeeBrian) and don’t miss the Brewers’ “A Simple Kind of Fan” each Tuesday from Pocket Doppler’s Brew Town Boozer.

Tags: 250 Words, Chicago Cubs, Corey Hart, John Axford, LaTroy Hawkins, Milwaukee Brewers, Shaun Marcum, St. Louis Cardinals, Zack Greinke