For the first time since 2023, the Brewers have pitched back-to-back shutouts as they completed a sweep of the Orioles and reached a franchise-record 98 wins with a 3-0 victory Sunday night.
Orioles starter Brandon Young dominated in the first, setting Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras down in order with three strikeouts. Jacob Misiorowski responded with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first, including one strikeout.
Jake Bauers became the first runner to reach as he led off
the second with a walk, moving up to second base on a groundout by Christian Yelich. With two outs, Cooper Pratt put Milwaukee on the board, hitting a liner to left that allowed Bauers to score, giving the Crew an early 1-0 lead.
Misiorowski had another 1-2-3 frame in the second with another strikeout, and Garrett Mitchell’s leadoff single went for naught in the third before Misiorowski finished up his shortened outing with two more strikeouts and just one hit allowed, a two-out single by Carlos Narváez.
With a 1-0 lead entering the fourth, Contreras quickly doubled the deficit, crushing his 18th homer of the year to leadoff the inning.
Antonio Senzatela entered to replace Miz in the fourth, allowing a two-out infield single to Coby Mayo before being removed for the lefty JoJo Romero, who induced a flyout to end the inning.
Milwaukee had another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, and Romero remained in for the fifth, allowing a one-out single but getting a pair of groundouts to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the sixth, Chourio led off with a walk before stealing his 20th base of the season (initially ruled an out, then overturned upon review). Chourio’s steal makes him the first player in MLB history to have three 20-homer-20-steal seasons before age 23, and just the third player — joining Julio Rodríguez and Bobby Witt Jr. — with three straight 20-20 seasons to begin their careers.
On the next pitch, however, Chourio inexplicably ran on a chopper to third, as Mayo turned an easy 5-3 double play with the tag.
Romero stayed in to get one more out to begin the bottom of the sixth before being lifted for Chad Patrick. Patrick got Pete Alonso to ground out but then lost his command, hitting Gunnar Henderson, walking Mayo on four pitches (including two wild pitches to advance Henderson to third), and doing the same with Samuel Basallo to load the bases for Jeremiah Jackson. The moment was anticlimactic for the home squad, though, as Jackson hit a soft grounder to first, helping Patrick escape the jam and extending Baltimore’s scoreless streak to 16 innings.
Looking for insurance, the Brewers would have to do so against the towering, 6’8” Félix Bautista, who was making his first appearance since last July as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Bauers promptly greeted him with a double into right-center, and he’d go on to score again as Pratt hit another RBI single. After swiping second and third base, Bautista walked Mitchell, and he exited to make way for left-hander Grant Wolfram, who set down Sal Frelick to end the inning.
Staked to a 3-0 lead, Pat Murphy turned to struggling Kyle Harrison, who once again ran into trouble, allowing a single and a walk around a lineout before being replaced by DL Hall. Hall got out of the jam quickly, needing five pitches to get two flyouts and sending this one to the eighth.
Chourio singled and stole second in the eighth before a walk by Contreras, but Bauers grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to allow Wolfram to get out of it.
Hall struck out a pair in a scoreless bottom half of the eighth, and neither team did much of anything in the ninth, as Pratt walked but stayed on first and Trevor Megill set the Orioles down in order, completing the sweep and giving Milwaukee a franchise-record 98 wins on the season.
With Miz going just three innings, Hall was awarded the win for his 1 2/3 innings of work, striking out a pair and allowing no baserunners, while Megill picked up his 29th save after blowing the save on Friday night. Pratt led the offense with two RBI singles and a walk, while Contreras had the solo homer and Bauers scored the other two runs, reaching three times via two walks and a double.
At 98-58 on the year, Milwaukee still has six chances to reach the 100-win threshold, as they’ll get an off day on Monday before a three-game set with the Phillies in Philadelphia. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 5:40 p.m., with Dustin May set to toe the rubber opposite Zack Wheeler. See you then.
