Brewers strike early, hold on late for 5-3 win over Rangers

Box Score

The Brewers kept on rolling tonight. Despite facing a pitcher having a strong month, the Brewers put up an early 3-0 lead, built on it and then held on late. The end result was 5-3 win, their fourth straight win. It also secured their fifth straight series win.

Cal Quantrill of the Rangers entered this start with just two runs allowed in August and one run in his last 19 innings. It took just four batters for the Brewers to match that monthly total. The second batter, Jackson Chourio, hit a solo home run out to right-center field, putting the Brewers up 1-0. It was his 20th home run of the season, coming on his cereal bowl night.

Two batters later, it was William Contreras’ turn. His home run went out to left-center, a 409 ft blast into the bleachers that put the Brewers up 2-0.

The offense would tack on another run in the second inning. Christian Yelich led off the inning with a double to center, then stole third. The next batter, Luis Lara, hit a single to center that scored Yelich, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. That gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Shane Drohan pitched what he needed. He started out well enough, striking out the first two batters he faced. He then hit Wyatt Langford with a pitch and allowed a single to Brandon Nimmo, but struck out Ezequiet Duran to end the early threat.

Two innings later, the Rangers mounted another threat. Cody Freeman was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Corey Seager singled two batters later to put runners at first and second. With two out, Nimmo came up and hit a ground ball to Brice Turang. It was a little too slow to get the out at first, but Turang saw Freeman attempt to score. He threw to Contreras at home instead, and Freeman was an easy out to end the inning.

The Rangers did get one run off of Drohan, a solo home run by Freeman to lead off the fifth. Drohan was nearing his limit after allowing a single to Justin Foscue, but a double play erased him from the bases. Langford drew a walk to give the Rangers another baserunner, but Nimmo flew out to center to end the inning.

Droahn finished the day with five innings pitched on 99 pitches. Most of those came a long third inning, where he needed over 30 pitches to get through the inning. He allowed six hits, a walk, and hit two batters, but only allowed the one run. He also struck out six in the start.

As for Quantrill. he settled in well after Lara’s single. He did not allow another baserunner in his start, recording fourteen straight outs to finish his day. He finished the day at six innings pitched, allowing three runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.

The Brewers couldn’t score again until Peyton Gray entered from the bullpen. They started the inning with four straight batters reaching base. Contreras led off with a single, then an error by Duran allowed Mitchell to reach. Yelich added a single to load the bases and bring up Lara. He singled sharply to left, scoring Contreras but not deep enough to score Mitchell.

Mitchell didn’t have to wait long to score, as Pratt sent a fly ball into mid-left field for the first out. It wasn’t too deep, but it was enough to get Mitchell home and increase the lead to 5-1. They couldn’t tack on another run from there, but now had a four-run lead.

However, the Rangers weren’t done yet. Chad Patrick entered in relief and started with two clean innings, retiring six batters in order. Seager would break that streak by drawing a walk. Two batters later, Nimmo hit a cutter that was right down the middle into the Rangers’ bullpen, closing the gap to 5-3.

Antonio Senzatela was brought into the game after that, and the Rangers got the tying run to the plate after Duran singled. Senzatela locked it down from there, getting two groundouts to end the inning.

The Brewers had a chance to add on in the eighth against Jakob Junis, after Jake Bauers and Contreras drew back-to-back one out walks. They advanced on a Mitchell groundout, but the Rangers chose to intentionally walk Yelich and face Lara. That worked as Junis struck out Lara to end the inning.

Trevor Megill came in for the save in the ninth. He needed just seven pitches to finish the game, getting two flyouts and a groundout to secure his 25th save and the Brewers fourth straight win.

Three batters — Contreras, Yelich, and Lara — had two-hit days. Lara also led the offense by driving in two of the Brewers’ five runs. Chourio, Contreras, and Pratt added an RBI each as well.

The Brewers have a chance to sweep the Rangers and extend their winning streak to five games before a critical stretch against the NL Central. Dustin May is back after his one-pitch start that ended when he took a hard-hit ball off the back of his right shoulder. He will face Kumar Rocker of the Rangers. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.

Read the full article here