Box Score
For most of this game, Milwaukee’s offense looked lifeless, but it didn’t end up mattering. William Contreras’ ninth-inning heroics helped the Brewers complete a sweep of the Marlins to open the second half.
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Brewers starter Robert Gasser bounced back nicely after his last start, allowing just three hits and one run — an Esteury Ruiz solo homer in the third inning — over five innings. He allowed a couple hard-hit balls, but kept Miami from putting together any sort of sustained offense rallies. After Gasser exited, Chad Patrick, Aaron Ashby, and Grant Anderson combined for four scoreless innings. The pitching was locked in all afternoon, but the offense? Anything but.
Despite holding Miami to just six hits all day, Milwaukee managed only two of its own through the first eight innings. One came on an Andrew Vaughn infield single in the fourth, but Jake Bauers struck out to leave him stranded. The other was a Gary Sánchez single in the seventh. Sánchez was immediately pulled for pinch-runner Cooper Pratt, who was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.
Milwaukee’s best scoring chance before the ninth came in the sixth after Christian Yelich drew a leadoff walk and Marlins starter Eury Pérez hit Jackson Chourio with a pitch. Brice Turang struck out swinging for the first out, bringing up Vaughn, who ripped a low line drive that looked ticketed for left field. Instead, it went right at Marlins shortstop Javier Sanoja, who caught it and doubled Yelich off third to end the inning.
Fortunately for the Brewers, Gasser and the bullpen managed to keep the deficit at just one run heading into the bottom of the ninth. Chourio led off against Marlins closer Pete Fairbanks by smoking a 108.4 mph single into left field. Turang followed by taking all five pitches he saw for a walk, putting the tying and winning runs on base with nobody out.
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That brought up Contreras, who quickly fell behind 1-2 before battling back with a pair of foul balls. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Fairbanks left a cutter over the heart of the plate, and Contreras didn’t miss it. He crushed it 411 feet to straightaway center for a walk-off three-run homer, capping off a comeback win and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
With the win, the Brewers completed a three-game sweep of the Marlins to open the second half. They’ll stay home for their next series, a three-game set against the Mets. Jacob Misiorowski is scheduled to start for Milwaukee, while old friend Freddy Peralta is expected to take the mound for New York.
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