Brewers squeeze out a 6-5 win over Miami

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MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Brewers squeezed out their third straight victory last night, a 6-5 home win over the Miami Marlins.

Pinch-hitter Norichika Aoki broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the eighth with a squeeze bunt that scored Rickie Weeks. Zack Greinke was in danger of losing his first home game as a Brewer, after he gave up five runs in six innings on six hits and a pair of walks. But his teammates bailed him out by tying the game in the bottom of the sixth. Travis Ishikawa hit a two-run single while pinch-hitting for Greinke, who remains 15-0 at Miller Park.

Plate umpire Derryl Cousins issued warnings to both benches after Marlins’ starter Carlos Zambrano hit Ryan Braun on his left arm with a fastball in the first – and Greinke later threw an inside pitch that almost hit Zambrano. Marlins’ catcher John Buck was ejected in the sixth for disputing a check swing on a called strike-three. Francisco Rodriguez escaped trouble in the eighth, but got the win to go 1-4. John Axford threw a perfect ninth for his 14th save. Ryan Webb took the loss in relief for Miami. He’s 3-2. Justin Ruggiano hit a two-run homer and drove in four wins for the Marlins, who ended a four-game winning streak. But they’ve lost five straight on the road, and they’ve now dropped their last nine games to Milwaukee.

The Brewers have won four-of-their-last-five, and they’ll host Miami again tonight. Right-hander Marco Estrada returns from a quad injury, and will face Marlins’ right-hander Anibal Sanchez.

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Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke says the team will look for a way to keep starter Zack Greinke, instead of trading him away for prospects later this month. Roenicke indicated last night that the Brewers will make another effort to work out a contract extension for Greinke before the trade deadline on July 31st. But if that doesn’t happen, the skipper hopes a deal can be made before he becomes a free agent this winter. Roenicke says Greinke likes it in Milwaukee – but he doesn’t blame the right-hander for seeing what he could get in the open market. The manager says the schedule coming out of the All-Star break is heavy with National League Central opponents – and both he and general manager Doug Melvin believe the Brewers can still make a run and get back in contention. Milwaukee is seven games behind first-place Cincinnati in the N-L Central, and the Brewers are six games out for one of the two N-L Wild Card spots.

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There was a moment of silence before last night’s Brewers’ game to remember lead grounds’ crew member Jeff Adcock. He suffered an apparent heart attack while in the Brewers’ bullpen during Sunday’s win over Arizona. Reliever Tim Dillard said the 51-year-old Adcock was chatting with some people when he collapsed. Paramedics performed CPR, but could not save him. The game was delayed for 20 minutes so an ambulance could get Adcock to a hospital where he later died. Adcock was with the Brewers’ grounds crew for 33 years and was popular among everyone on the team. Closer John Axford said Adcock was in the bullpen all the time, and everybody had a good time with him – and he always opened the door for the relievers when they came into the games. The grounds crew will wear a “J-A” patch on their uniforms for the rest of the season.

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