This was one of the most uncharacteristic games for the Brewers this season. A series of mistakes cost the Brewers repeatedly on Sunday afternoon, and they couldn’t finish the sweep of the Blue Jays.
The Brewers got on the board early against Max Scherzer. Jackson Chourio hit a one-out single to give the Brewers their first baserunner. That set up William Contreras with two outs. He hit the first pitch he saw out over the left field fence, and the Brewers had a 2-0 lead.
However, the “comedy” of errors that defined this game began in the bottom of the inning. It began with Brandon Woodruff working George Springer to a full count before hitting him with a pitch. Woodruff responded with a strikeout of Addison Barger. After that, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a ground ball to Andrew Vaughn that looked like it would be an easy double play. Instead, when Vaughn threw to second, both Brice Turang and Andruw Monasterio tried to cover it. That resulted in an off-target throw that neither caught, resulting in both runners being called safe and advancing an extra base. By rule, the error was charged to Vaughn, but the problem stemmed from a miscommunication between Turang and Monasterio.
Despite that error, Woodruff still had a chance to escape the inning scoreless. He struck out Bo Bichette to help his case. Unfortunately, Nathan Lukes doubled to left and scored both Springer and Guerrero Jr., tying the game at 2-2. It was compounded on the next batter as Ernie Clement singled, allowing Lukes to score. Andrés Giménez flew out to end the inning, but the damage was done. The Brewers trailed 3-2, and all three of the runs went down as unearned.
After the Brewers went in order in the top of the second, the Blue Jays added on. Woodruff walked Shaw with one out. Springer brought him in with a double to left that got over Isaac Collins’ head. Springer then reached third when Monasterio tried throwing home. He had no shot at making the play and should have just eaten the ball to keep Springer at second. Thankfully, that did not bite the Brewers. Woodruff got Barger to ground out and Guerrero Jr. to fly out to end the inning.
The third inning started well enough for the Brewers. Turang made up for his earlier mistake with a home run to left, closing the gap to 4-3.
Chourio followed that up with a double to right field — it should have been an easy fly ball out, but Barger lost it in the sun. Yelich kept the pressure on with a deep fly ball to center that had a chance to leave the park, but Straw caught it in front of the wall. However, Chourio never went to tag up and didn’t advance. That could have been a problem, but Contreras made up for it with an RBI single that tied the game at 4-4.
However, Contreras had his own baserunning goof since he didn’t run at full intensity, turning what should have been a double into a single. Frelick singled to put runners at first and second for Vaughn. Then the baserunning mistakes continued. Vaughn flew out to shallow center, and it was a ball that was nowhere near deep enough to advance anyone. However, Contreras decided to tag up on it, and he was out easily at third to end the inning.
Woodruff got through the bottom of the third inning without issue, allowing just a single walk to Bo Bichette. Meanwhile, the Brewers tried to put together a rally with two outs in the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Monasterio and Turang put runners at first and third. With Chourio up to bat, Turang went for a steal of second. Monasterio decided to try to steal home as well, but he hesitated too much and the Blue Jays easily caught it. Giménez threw back to Heineman and got Monasterio to end the inning.
Despite his best efforts, Woodruff couldn’t keep the Blue Jays at bay. They put together their own two-out rally, and it worked. Three straight singles scored a run, and the Blue Jays took a 5-4 lead. That included an RBI infield single from Guerrero Jr. It took a high bounce, Monasterio tried to catch and throw it, but it was very high and off-target. Fortunately, that one didn’t hurt the Brewers.
The Brewers managed to chase Scherzer from the game early, as the Blue Jays went to their bullpen in the fifth inning and brought in Brendon Little. This time, it was the Blue Jays messing up. Chourio led off the inning with a single. Yelich was up next and hit a bouncing ground ball back to Little, but Little fumbled the pickup and Yelich reached. Contreras then repeated the feat, hitting another ground ball back to Little. This time, Little fielded it fine and looked to third, but no one was covering. He turned and threw to first, but the throw was low and Guerrero Jr. couldn’t catch it cleanly. The Brewers had the bases loaded with no one out.
Despite loading the bases, the Brewers would fail to score again. Frelick had the first chance and hit the third straight ball back at Little. This time, Little made a reaching grab and threw home to get Chourio easily. Had that ball gotten over Little’s head, the Blue Jays might have turned a double play, but the Brewers could have tied it up. Tommy Nance came in for Little after that. He struck out Vaughn, then Collins grounded out to short as the Brewers left the bases loaded.
From there, Woodruff fell apart completely in the bottom of the fifth, and the Brewers’ defense just added to the problems. After Lukes popped out to start the inning, Clement and Giménez both hit singles that just fell in front of Chourio and Collins, respectively. Heineman then hit a fly ball to deep left-center. It was placed perfectly enough that neither Collins nor Chourio could get to it, and Clement scored as Heineman had a double. Straw followed it with a ground ball single right between Turang and Monasterio, and the Blue Jays pushed their lead to 8-4.
That was the end of Woodruff’s day. It was a bad day for him, though not all of it was his fault. In 4 1/3 innings, he allowed eight runs — only five of them earned — on ten hits and three walks. He struck out just three in the game. Tobias Myers entered in relief to try to keep the Blue Jays in check. Though he allowed an infield single to Barger — a ball Durbin tried to get but ended up booting it towards third — Myers did not allow another runner to score and got out of the fifth.
In the sixth, Durbin tried to get something going with a line drive to left. However, Lukes wouldn’t let that one fall in front of him as he made a diving catch for the out. Monasterio followed that with a one-out single, and the Blue Jays went to Louis Varland. He struck out Turang and Chourio to end the inning.
Myers remained in the game to cover some innings for the bullpen. While he allowed a one-out single to Lukes in the sixth, it would be erased after Contreras easily caught Lukes stealing. Clement flew out to end the inning, giving the Brewers one of their shorter innings on defense in the game.
The seventh inning was one of the quieter innings of the day. The Brewers went down in order, not putting together anything on offense. Straw did hit a two-out single for the Blue Jays, but Durbin made a great pick and throw on a ground ball from Springer to end the bottom of the seventh.
Seranthony Domínguez got the eighth inning for the Blue Jays. Manager Pat Murphy decided to go with two pinch-hitters as he used Anthony Seigler and Jake Bauers (for Vaughn and Durbin, respectively). That didn’t make a difference as the Brewers went down in order. Rob Zastryzny entered the game for the first time since his return from the IL in the bottom of the eighth inning. He worked around a one-out walk of Guerrero Jr. for a clean inning.
After yesterday’s disastrous appearance, manager John Schneider decided to give Jeff Hoffmann another chance with a four-run lead in the ninth inning. Monasterio struck out to start the inning. Turang hit a line drive to left that almost dropped, but Straw — who had moved over to left — made a sliding catch to rob Turang of a hit. Chourio kept the game alive with a two-out double off the left-center wall — his fourth hit of the game. Yelich followed that up with an infield single that he just beat out on the initial call. The Blue Jays challenged it, but the call was confirmed on replay. Contreras had a chance to extend it further, but grounded out to third to end the game.
The Brewers’ offense matched the Blue Jays with 13 hits in this game. In addition to Chourio’s four-hit game, Turang, Contreras, Frelick, and Monasterio each had two-hit games as well. While a 3-for-10 day with runners in scoring position isn’t bad, they did leave nine runners on base as a team.
The story of the game will be all of the mistakes that the Brewers made. Even though the box score shows just one error, it feels like there’s a zero missing after that one. It’s hard to say if the Brewers win this one if they don’t make all of those mistakes. At the very least, it would have been a much closer game.
Despite the loss, the Brewers finish the month of August with a 21-9 record. They will get reinforcements tomorrow as rosters expand, and will also finish their streak of 19 games in 18 days. Jacob Misiorowski will get the Labor Day start and will face Taijuan Walker of the Phillies. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. CT, and it will be on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and MLB Network (out-of-market). It will also be on the Brewers Radio Network.
