The homestand did not start well for the Brewers. After a burst by both offenses in the first, the pitching staffs kept it close until the Brewers buckled late. Most of it came from a terrible performance by Trevor Megill, and the Brewers dropped the series opener to the Nationals 7-3.
The game started with more first inning struggles for the Brewers. After James Wood led off the game with a double, Curtis Mead singled to center and the Nationals scored their first run. Aaron Ashby recovered
a bit and got the next two batters out but a wild pitch moved Mead up. That didn’t matter as much as CJ Abrams doubled to right center, brining in Mead for a second run. Ashby responded with a strikeout of former Brewer Joey Wiemer, but they were already down 2-0.
However, the Brewers did not take long to rally. Jake Irvin struggled to find the strike zone and only threw 14 of his first 32 pitches for strikes. It started with a four-pitch walk to Brice Turang. He recovered for strikeouts of William Contreras and Christian Yelich, but Garrett Mitchell also drew a walk. That set up Jake Bauers, who worked the count full before hitting a slider thrown right down the middle deep into the right field bleachers. With one hit, the Brewers went from down 2-0 to up 3-2.
Both starters settled in for the second inning, each retiring the side in order. Ashby came back out to start the third and struck James Wood out. Manager Pat Murphy brought in Chad Patrick for the bulk innings after that. His day started alright with a line out and ground out. As for the Brewers, they got a walk and single but couldn’t score them in the bottom of the inning.
The next two innings were quiet before the Nationals threatened in the sixth. Wood and Daylen Lile singled to put runners on the corners, then Patrick walked Brady House following a stolen base by Lile. With the bases loaded, Murphy brought in Angel Zerpa to get them out of the jam. It worked as CJ Abrams grounded into a double play, and the score remained at 3-2.
Zerpa remained in the game for the seventh. He walked Wiemer to start the inning, who then switched places with Luis García, Jr. on a ground out. After Jorbit Vivas walked, pinch-hitter Jacob Young came in to face Zerpa. Young won the match, hitting a double to the right field corner that scored García Jr. Young tried to stretch it to a triple and was thrown out, but the damage was done. The game was tied at 3-3.
That tie held into the ninth inning. Trevor Megill came into the game to try and keep it tied for a potential ninth-inning rally. What followed was a sequence of nine pitches that completely torpedoed the game. With his third pitch, he hit CJ Abrams to give the Nationals a leadoff baserunner. On the fifth pitch, Wiemer hit a bunt to the third base side of the infield and was able to beat Luis Rengifo’s throw. The next pitch was hit right down the middle by García Jr., scoring Abrams and moving Wiemer to third. That got a mound visit, as well as Easton McGee warming in the bullpen.
It just got worse from there. On the seventh pitch, Vivas hit a bunt back towards the mound. A good throw might have got Wiemer at home, but Megill’s throw was a soft lob not close to Contreras that ended up going to the backstop. Pinch-runner Nasim Nuñez easily reached because of that, and the Nationals were up 5-3. Two pitches later, the Nationals went for another sacrifice bunt. Once again, it went back to Megill and there would have been a play at home with a good throw. Once again, Megill just lobbed the baseball to Contreras at home, this time like it was a force play at the plate. Nuñez scored, the Nationals were up 6-3, and the boos were out in full force. Murphy pulled Megill at nine pitches and brought in McGee.
The Nationals got one more run off the Brewers, with Wood hitting a double off of McGee to start his appearance. Mead hit a ground ball hard to Rengifo at third, and he had an easy throw to get Drew Millas at home. After that, Lile hit into a double play and the inning mercifully came to an end. The Nationals scored four runs and the Brewers were down 7-3. Clayton Beeter finished the game in the ninth for the Nationals, and the Brewers just went down in order quietly to end the game.
After the first inning, the Brewers offense was held in check. Jake Bauers led the offense with a two-hit day and added on a walk. Brice Turang had a hit and a walk as well. However, the offense was held to four hits and five walks overall. The bottom four batters in the lineup went 0-for-13 with two walks and three strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Nationals roughed up the Brewers’ pitching staff. They had 11 hits and two walks as a team and only struck out six times. Ashby allowed two of their runs in a rough first inning. Patrick pitched three scoreless innings, but left with the bases loaded. Zerpa got them out of that jam in the sixth before allowing a run in the seventh. Abner Uribe kept the game tied with a scoreless eighth. However, Megill’s four runs allowed in the ninth, along with his terrible throws home, were what sealed this one. After the game, here’s what he had to say.
With the Brewers now on a three-game losing streak, they will try to break that tomorrow in game two of the series. Kyle Harrison will face Foster Griffin at 6:10 p.m., and it will be on Brewers.TV and the Brewers Radio Network.
