The Milwaukee Milkmen hit three home runs to help lead them to a 10-7 victory over the Chicago Dogs on Tuesday evening. That was the fourth victory in the last five games against Chicago and helped to catapult the team to just a half-game behind Winnipeg for the top spot in the American Association. Karch Kowalczyk earned the victory with two outstanding innings of relief.

Milwaukee took the lead in the top of the first inning. Brett Vertigan led off with a base hit and moved to third when David Washington followed with a double into center. Logan Trowbridge followed with a base into right, driving home Vertigan. Washington came home on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Tice to put the Milkmen in the lead, 2-0.

Chicago got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Edwin Arroyo singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a base hit by K.C. Hobson.

In the bottom of the second, the Dogs tied the score. Victor Roache led off with his American Association leading 14th homerun of the year.

The Milkmen took the lead right back in the top of the third. Washington started the inning off with a double and Trowbridge followed with a walk. That put two on with no one out for José Sermo, who blasted his second homerun of the season to put Milwaukee on top by three. Tice followed with a solo homer, his second of the year and Aaron Hill plated the fifth run of the inning when he reached on an error, allowing Zach Nehrir to score.

As they had in the first inning, Chicago responded right away. In the bottom of the third, Michael Crouse led off the inning with his eighth homer of the year.

The Dogs continued to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Ladendorf singled to start the inning and Roache followed with a double, moving him to third. A groundout brought home Ladendorf, and Roache scored on an RBI double by Harrison Smith. Smith scored when Crouse delivered a clutch two-out single into right field. That put the Dogs behind by just one run.

However, Milwaukee took command of this game over the next two innings. Mason Davis led off the top of the fifth with his fifth homerun of the year. An inning later, Davis brought home Tice on an RBI fielder’s choice and he scored on a bases-loaded walk to Vertigan. That made the score 10-6.

Chicago added one more run in the bottom of the seventh. A wild pitch plated Arroyo to pull Chicago within three, but they would get no closer.

Kowalczyk (1-4) came on in the fifth inning and was absolutely brilliant, retiring all six batters he faced in earning his first victory of the season. Peyton Smith came on in the ninth, recording his eighth save of the season. In 18 appearances this season he has yet to be scored on.

Washington finished 3-6 with two runs scored for Milwaukee. Tice was 2-3 with two runs scored and to RBI, and Davis was 2-5 with two runs scored and to RBI. Arroyo had three hits and two runs scored for Chicago.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier