Ramirez to the rescue
The Brewers left it late but they had enough to see off the Miami Marlins 13-12 in yesterday’s home win. Aramis Ramirez was the hero, hitting a two-out, two home-run homer off Heath Bell late in the 10th to finally swing the game back in the favour of Milwaukee.
Down 9-2 in the seventh, the Marlins rallied and then took the lead in the 10th. Ramirez’s sixth career game-ending homer wrecked Miami’s comeback.
Livan Hernandez (2-1) pitched the 10th and picked up the win despite giving up the go-ahead run. He struck out John Buck and retired Scott Cousins on a flyball before Jose Reyes homered into the second tier above the Marlins’ bullpen in right.
Bell (2-4) came on in the bottom of the 10th looking for his 18th save in 22 chances. He had not allowed a run in his last 13 games against the Brewers.
Carlos Gomez drew a leadoff walk to begin the rally. With one out, Ryan Braun, who hit a three-run homer in a six-run sixth, struck out while Gomez stole second.
“That would have a hard one to lose,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “It was a hard one to win, it would have been really hard to lose.”
The defeat for the Marlins made it the 10th straight defeat against Milwaukee.
“I feel bad for the other 24 guys,” Bell said after his fifth blown save. “There’s no worse feeling than letting your teammates down.”
Justin Ruggiano, Logan Morrison, Buck and Cousins all homered for the Marlins, who scored nine runs off four relievers in the seventh and eighth innings after Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada held them in check and left with a 9-2 lead.
In the seventh, the Marlins chased Jose Veras with three runs, including Ruggiano’s leadoff home run.
Then in the eighth, the Marlins batted around and scored six runs. Kameron Loe got just one out and allowed four runs, highlighted by Buck’s two-run homer.
Francisco Rodriguez relieved Loe and allowed Cousins’ homer. Reyes doubled, advanced on a throwing error and scored on Greg Dobbs’ sacrifice fly to tie it at 11.
The collapse cost Estrada his first win of the season. It was the right-hander’s second start since coming off the disabled list with a right quadriceps strain.
He settled down after allowing two runs in the first inning. He gave up Donovan Solano’s single and Morrison’s two-run homer.
The win saw the Brewers consolidate fourth in the Central National League and sees them on a season high four game streak, while the Marlins are still scrapping it out down the bottom of the Eastern conference.
Miami are out at +1800 to win the National League with Milwaukee even further adrift at +4000. To check out the full range of odds for the MLB World Series and more visit sportsbook.com
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