Brewers’ bats come alive in 9-1 series-clinching victory over Reds

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers cruised to a series victory in Cincinnati this afternoon, as the duo of DL Hall and Quinn Priester shut down the Reds’ offense while the Brewers got to Andrew Abbott in a way that no other team in baseball has so far this season. It was a good day for the Brewers on both sides of the ball, and they’ll head back home with a 5-1 road trip.

Abbott and Hall both cruised through the first two innings, but both ran into trouble in the third. In the top of the inning, Milwaukee put together a two-out rally with a Brice Turang double followed by an Andruw Monasterio RBI single to break the scoreless tie. Jackson Chourio added a single, but Abbott retired Christian Yelich with two runners on to get out of the inning with just one run allowed.

In the bottom of the inning, Hall allowed a leadoff double to Jose Trevino and walked the bases loaded with one out, but he wriggled off the hook after a Santiago Espinal soft liner to second and an Elly De La Cruz groundout.

Abbott worked around a leadoff single in the fourth, and — as he did on Friday — Priester replaced Hall after those three scoreless innings. Priester got off to an inauspicious start by walking Tyler Stephenson, but he struck out Spencer Steer and then ended the inning on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.

The Brewers struck again in the fifth. With one out, Turang reached on an infield single, and after Monasterio flew out, Chourio hit an opposite-field tank for his 10th homer of the year, and extended Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0.

For the second time in the game, though, Cincinnati had a leadoff double from Trevino. Priester got the first out on a Will Benson grounder that advanced Trevino to third, and Matt McLain also grounded out, with Trevino scoring from third on the play. The Reds were on the board, but a TJ Friedl strikeout ended the inning with the Brewers still up 3-1.

Rhys Hoskins led off the sixth with a walk, and the next batter, Daz Cameron, absolutely crushed a deep homer to left center, his first as a Brewer — the impressive Statcast numbers had it at 437 feet with a 108.2-mph exit velocity. With their fifth run, the Brewers had officially tagged Abbott with his highest run total of the season in his 10th start. Milwaukee got nothing else in the rest of the inning (aided partially by questionable umpiring), but took a 5-1 lead to the bottom of the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Priester issued a one-out walk to De La Cruz, who promptly stole second and, a few pitches later, third. But Priester struck Stephenson out looking with EDLC standing at third, and Joey Ortiz made a nice play on a Steer grounder in the hole to get the third out and prevent the run from scoring.

Abbott’s day was done after six innings, as he was replaced by Lyon Richardson. He started by walking the leadoff man, Turang, but got Monasterio looking (another questionable call) and Chourio and Yelich on tappers to third and first, respectively. Priester allowed a two-out single to Benson, but McLain grounded out, and the inning was over.

Wade Miley (!!!) made his season debut in the eighth inning, having just signed a major league contract with the Reds this morning. Hoskins led off with a base hit to right, his second hit and third time on base in the game. Cameron followed with another single on the next pitch, and Frelick reached on a catcher’s interference call to load the bases with nobody out. Ortiz made weak contact and grounded into a fielder’s choice (they got the out at the plate), but Haase followed with an RBI single to center to extend Milwaukee’s lead to 6-1 with the bases still loaded and one out. Turang also grounded into a fielder’s choice in which Cincinnati got the out at the plate, but it looked like Milwaukee would add more when Monasterio blooped one into left field that looked destined for the grass. But for what felt like the 12th time in this series, Benson made a sliding catch to rob Monasterio of the hit and a couple of RBIs.

Turang made a really nice play to start the bottom of the eighth on a slow grounder that he shoveled to first with his glove. After another ground ball out, De La Cruz battled hard before walking on Priester’s ninth pitch of the at-bat, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. But Priester got Stephenson to ground out, and the Brewers headed to the ninth with their 6-1 lead intact.

Chourio jumped on Miley’s first pitch of the ninth for a single, his third hit of the game, and Yelich followed with a solid single to left to extend his hit streak to 11. Hoskins popped out, but Isaac Collins, who had replaced Cameron defensively in the eighth, popped a three-run homer, his second of the year, and the Brewers were up 9-1. Miley retired Frelick and Ortiz to end the inning, but the Brewers had turned this one into a laugher.

It was Nick Mears in the ninth (what’s it going to take to get Aaron Ashby into a game?), which ended Priester’s excellent day at five innings, two hits, three walks, four strikeouts, and one run allowed. Mears needed just five pitches to get through the ninth despite allowing a two-out single, and the Brewers polished this one off.

Hall, Priester, and Mears were excellent today, as the three of them combined to allow just one run on four hits and five walks with seven strikeouts. On the offensive side, the Brewers got multiple hits from Chourio, Hoskins, Cameron, and Turang, while Chourio, Cameron, and Collins all homered. Monasterio and Haase added RBI singles, and everyone in the Brewers’ lineup today had a hit except for Frelick and Ortiz.

The Brewers head into their off day tomorrow as winners of nine of their last 10. They return to action Friday night at American Family Field against the Padres.