Milwaukee jumped all over San Diego starter Griffin Canning early, scoring three runs in each of the first two innings, and Kyle Harrison turned in another gem to deliver a 7-1 victory. After taking two of three from the Padres, the Brewers have now won six of their last seven games.
Canning started the bottom of the first inning with a strikeout of Jackson Chourio, then completely fell apart, walking the next four batters to bring home the Brewers’ first run. With just one out, the Padres
had already sent Ron Marinaccio to warm up in the bullpen. Luis Rengifo came to the plate with the bases still loaded, worked the count to 3-2, and grounded a two-run single into right field to give the Brewers an early 3-0 lead.
Canning stayed in the game and managed to retire Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick without allowing another run. He came back out for the second inning and allowed a single to David Hamilton on his second pitch, then threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt. The speedy Hamilton ended up on third, and after Chourio flew out Turang doubled into the gap in left-center to knock him in.
At this point, Marinaccio was ready, but Padres manager Craig Stammen left Canning in to face William Contreras, who hit an infield pop-up, and Gary Sánchez, who smoked another double into the same gap to bring Hamilton home. Andrew Vaughn singled to score Sánchez, and that would be all for Canning.
After Canning exited, each team was only able to manage a single run, so the game ended with a score of Brewers 7, Padres 1. Milwaukee scored again in the fourth on a Vaughn double and Rengifo single, while San Diego got their lone run in the ninth inning.
The Brewers’ pitching staff — led by Harrison — didn’t allow a single earned run all game. Harrison delivered a beauty, allowing just five hits and no walks over five shutout innings while striking out seven. He got into a couple jams, but rebounded each time to escape without allowing a run.
Milwaukee is now 6-2 when Harrison starts, and he still hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any outing this season. His off-speed stuff looked great, his fastball touched 98 mph, and he now has a 2.09 ERA on the season. For a Brewers team built around young pitching, Harrison has quickly become a dependable presence in the rotation and continues to put up elite numbers.
Also, for all the (justified) talk about the Brewers needing more production out of the left side of the infield, Luis Rengifo has been playing better and better. Rengifo was great this series — he now has seven hits in his last three games and has made a couple nice plays at third base. David Hamilton isn’t ever going to hit twenty home runs, but he’s gotten his on-base percentage up to .327 and leads the league in bunt base hits. When those two guys are contributing, the Brewers’ offense looks even better.
First pitch for tomorrow’s series opener against the Twins is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. Joe Ryan will go for Minnesota, while the Brewers have yet to announce a starter.
