And the Day Game Goes to…

Who would of thought that even after Ryan Braun was suspended for the season he would still be winning games for the Milwaukee Brewers, sort of.

Braun’s replacement delivers against the Chicago Cubs in a day/night double header at Wrigley Field.

Lefty reliever James Russell gave up a three run home run to defensive replacement Khris Davis in game one of the day/night doubleheader vs. Milwaukee Brewers. Davis was recalled a couple weeks back when the Brewers got word of Ryan Braun’s season suspension, and the kid came through for the Brew Crew today.

With Chicago Cubs starter Carlos Villanueva (2-7, 4.33 ERA) going 6.1 innings and having a pitch count of 102, manager Dale Sveum went to his only lefty, Russell.

Villanueva was responsible for runners on first and third after a one out walk to Jeff Bianchi and line drive single to Yuniesky Betancourt when Russell took the mound.

On the first pitch fastball delivered by Russell, Left fielder Khris Davis, who entered the game in the bottome of the 6th, deposited an opposite field homerun to the right field bleachers. The Brewers would go on to score one more run in the 7th to take a 6-5 lead. Russell would end up taking the loss and fall to 1-3 with a 3.08 ERA, not helping his return if a deal was in the works.

“I was just looking for a good pitch to get that run in and just a little something would have helped the team out. Little,” Davis said about the game tying homerun. “And it ended up being bigger than it was.”

The Cubs earlier in the game hung five runs on the Brewers pitching staff after starter Yovani Gallardo loaded the bases and was taken out after a hamstring injury in the 5th inning.

The Cubs offense finally delivered with runners in scoring position lining off four straight hits with two outs breaking a 9-86 slump with RISP to start the second half of year.

The Cubs would take the lead 5-2, but not have the offense to regain the lead after the Brewers took it right back in the 7th. Chicago would have a rally in the ninth after two walks by pinch hitter Dioner Navarro and Wellington Castillo, but would ultimately lose game one on a final fly out from pinch hitter Cody Ransom.

The Brewers were powered behind homers from Jean Segura(12), Yuniesky Betancourt(12), and the aforementioned game tying blast by Khris Davis(2). Chicago Cubs offense was limited minus the surge in the 5th Jul 30, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Khris Davis (18) runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the seventh inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports inning, but had multi-hit games from David DeJesus, Anthony Rizzo, and Wellington Castillo.

Both starters went winless today as the pitching performances were pretty similar, each giving up six hits and allowing runs after being pulled from the game. Gallardo however may be looking a little worse off after suffering what seemed like a hamstring injury.

“As soon as I released it kind of tightened up a little bit,” Gallardo said. “Tightened up enough to just, I think. … After I felt it on that pitch I figured it was going to be a little difficult to stay in there.”

The Cubs (48-57), now losers of nine of 12 at home to Milwaukee Brewers, who improve to (45-61) look to come back strong in the night portion behind recently acquired and recalled starter, Jake Arrieta. The right-hander, 1-2 with a 7.23 ERA in five starts for the Orioles this season will face the Brewers, Tyler Thornburg (1-0, 2.95), who is making his first start of the season — and fourth of his career.