Villar, Crew prove bothersome to Arrieta

CHICAGO — The Brewers entered Thursday knowing they would face Jake Arrieta, knowing all eyes would be on the Cubs’ dominant right-hander and knowing he was trying to join Johnny Vander Meer as the second Major League pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters.

In a 7-2 loss at Wrigley Field, Milwaukee walked 11 batters, made two errors and couldn’t get timely hits. But it did end any potential no-hitter drama early when shortstop Jonathan Villar led off the game with a broken-bat single to left field.

“The guy is a very good pitcher,” Villar said.

In the fifth inning, Villar again singled with two outs and stole second base. Alex Presley came up and improved to 3-for-7 in his career against Arrieta, hitting a double down the right-field line that ended Arrieta’s home scoreless streak at 52 2/3 innings.

“I didn’t even know, …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com