MILWAUKEE _ A lucky break went a long way in helping the Milwaukee Brewers to victory Saturday afternoon.
Giancarlo Stanton was unable to complete a home-run-robbing catch on a drive to right field by Domingo Santana in the second inning, and that opened the door to a big seven-run inning as the Brewers went on to beat the Miami Marlins, 8-4, at Miller Park.
Milwaukee scored just once more in the game, on an Orlando Arcia homer in the fifth, but the seven-spot was more than enough as the Brewers won their third consecutive game and lengthened their lead in the National League Central.
A shaky first inning in which starter Zach Davies walked a pair and allowed a two-out, two-RBI double to Justin Bour, left the Brewers to play from behind from the opening inning.
But they got those two runs back and then some in the third against Tom Koehler, who was making his first major league appearance in six weeks.
The fireworks all started after Travis Shaw drew a leadoff walk. That brought up Santana, who lifted a long fly ball to right that Stanton tracked and timed perfectly.
He leaped at the wall and actually made the catch momentarily, but the ball squirted out of the web of his glove and dropped over the wall for a two-run homer.
It was some poetic justice for the Brewers, who were robbed of a three-run Stephen Vogt homer in an eventual one-run loss in Cincinnati on Thursday night, and also the launching pad to a big inning.
It was Santana's 14th homer.
Milwaukee sent 13 batters to the plate in the second with Davies putting the Brewers ahead at 3-2 with a fielder's choice. Jonathan Villar followed with an RBI single and Shaw added a two-RBI single in his second plate appearance of the frame three batters later to make it 6-2.
After Santana walked to load the bases again, Koehler was lifted for Vance Worley, who promptly walked Vogt to up Milwaukee's lead to 7-2.
Keon Broxton struck out twice in the inning, for the first and third outs, and the Brewers were left a run shy of their biggest inning of the season.
Miami got a pair back from Davies in the third, with Ryan Braun's misread of a fly ball in left with two outs allowing the second run to score. The roof opened during the inning, allowing abundant sunshine to spill onto the field.
Davies (9-4) hit his stride after that, retiring the final 10 batters he faced to get through six innings on 105 pitches. He went a season-high seven innings in his previous start in Atlanta.
The right-hander allowed five hits, four runs (earned) and two walks while striking out five.
Arcia tacked a run onto Milwaukee's lead with a first-pitch homer off Nick Wittgren in the fifth that made it 8-4. Josh Hader relieved Davies and after allowing the first two hitters to reach got himself out of the jam unscathed, striking out Christian Yelich on three pitches for the third out.
Jared Hughes and Oliver Drake also pitched scoreless innings to finish it up.
