Milwaukee picked up its second straight spring win today behind strong showings from several of their top prospects. Jesús Made, Mike Boeve, Luis Lara, and Eric Bitonti all had RBIs as the Brewers defeated the Diamondbacks, 6-2.
Arizona got on the board in the first inning against Brewers starter Chad Patrick. Jacob Amaya hit a leadoff single immediately followed by an Oscar Mercado double. That put runners on second and third with no outs, but Patrick bore down: striking out Jordan Lawlar for the first out.
LuJames Groover grounded out to second for the second out, but merely putting the ball in play was enough to score Amaya for the first run of the game. Patrick then struck out Aramis Garcia to end the inning, but Arizona would take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first.
Milwaukee quickly tied the game up in the bottom of the first. Leadoff hitter Jake Bauers failed to reach, but Brandon Lockridge singled and stole second to put a runner in scoring position for Christian Yelich — who struck out swinging. Akil Baddoo, however, did not — lacing a single into centerfield to score Lockridge from second.
The first batter that Patrick faced in the top of the second was Manuel Peña. With a 2-1 count, Patrick threw Peña a fastball up in the zone, and Peña sent it 433 feet to give the Diamondbacks the lead once again. Patrick would end up going three innings, allowing those two earned runs and five hits while striking out five.
Neither team would score again until the bottom of the sixth, when David Hamilton reached on a one-out single. Luis Lara, Milwaukee’s No. 12 prospect per MLB Pipeline, smoked a double into right field to score Hamilton and tie the game. The next batter up was Jesús Made, who hit a hard ground ball just out of reach of Diamondbacks second baseman Demetrio Crisantes — scoring Lara from second to give the Brewers a lead they would never relinquish.
The Brewers would tack on another two runs in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of an Akil Baddoo walk that preceded a two-out home run off the bat of prospect Mike Boeve. Milwaukee’s minor leaguers would add on another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Made, leading off the inning, beat out a ground ball to Adrian Rodriguez at shortstop, then took second on a Rodriguez throwing error. After Brady Ebel struck out, Eric Bitonti smoked a line drive that deflected off of first baseman Modeifi Marte’s glove and bounced into right field for a single. Made scored from second for the Brewers’ sixth and final run of the game.
As someone who follows the Brewers’ minor league system, it was really fun to see so many of the Brewers’ top prospects show up today. Made, Lara, Bitonti, and Boeve are all ranked as top-30 Brewers prospects by MLB Pipeline, and their efforts were the reason that the Brewers won this game. Milwaukee’s pitching staff also did a great job of shutting down the Diamondbacks’ offense. Patrick was the only pitcher to allow a run — Jared Koenig, Peter Strzelecki, Brian Fitzpatrick, Will Childers, Mark Manfredi, and Blake Holub all put together scoreless outings in relief of Patrick.
The Brewers will attempt to win their third straight contest against the Los Angeles Angels tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 2:10 p.m.
