Peralta helps Milwaukee avoid a sweep as Cubs lose Imanaga to hamstring injury

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Freddy Peralta pitched six sharp innings to help Milwaukee beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 on Sunday, with the Brewers’ lineup breaking through after an injury knocked out left-hander Shota Imanaga in the sixth inning.

Milwaukee prevented the Cubs from earning their first road sweep of the Brewers since October 2015.

The game was scoreless when Imanaga (3-2) strained his left hamstring while heading toward first base in an unsuccessful attempt to complete a 1-6-3 double play. Imanaga grabbed the back of his left leg at the end of the play.

When Imanaga departed, the Brewers had runners on the corners with two outs.

Julian Merryweather’s first offering was a wild pitch that brought home Chourio. Merryweather also surrendered an RBI single to Daz Cameron and a two-run double to Caleb Durbin.

Cameron entered in the fourth after starting right fielder Sal Frelick departed with left knee discomfort.

Peralta (4-2) struck out seven while lowering his ERA to 2.18. He improved to 7-2 with a 2.92 ERA against the Cubs in his career.

Key moment

The Cubs had a chance to take an early lead when Michael Busch drew a leadoff walk in the second inning and was awarded second base an out later due to an obstruction call on Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins. Peralta recovered by retiring Pete Crow-Armstrong and Miguel Amaya to end the threat.

Key stat

Peralta increased his career strikeout total to 997. The only pitchers to collect 1,000 strikeouts as Brewers are Yovanni Gallardo (1,226), Ben Sheets (1,206) and Teddy Higuera (1,081).

Up next

The Cubs return home for a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants. Right-hander Landen Roupp (2-2, 5.10 ERA) pitches for the Giants and left-hander Matthew Boyd (2-2, 2.70 ERA) starts for the Cubs on Monday.

The Brewers open a three-game home series with the Houston Astros on Monday. The scheduled starters are Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco (2-2, 5.08 ERA) and Brewers right-hander Tobias Myers (0-0, 5.14 ERA).