Jose Quintana had a pretty good outing, except for the fifth inning. Quintana allowed a grand slam to Michael Helman that broke a 0-0 tie and gave the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Milwaukee will have to wait until tomorrow for another chance at earning their league-leading ninetieth win of the season.
Both teams went down relatively uneventfully in the first inning. Andrew Vaughn reached for the Brewers with a one-out single in the second, but Caleb Durbin grounded into a double
play to help Rangers starter Jacob Latz escape the inning. No player on either team would reach base again until Jackson Chourio worked a walk with one out. William Contreras, however, grounded into another double play.
The game remained tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth, with Quintana perfect through four innings. Quintana lost his bid for perfection upon allowing a leadoff walk to Jake Burger, who was promptly replaced at first by Dylan Moore after Moore grounded into a force-out for the first out. Kyle Higashioka doubled on a line drive to left field that, after review, just barely missed being a home run. That put runners on second and third for Jonah Heim, who took four straight balls (three of which that weren’t close at all) to load the bases.
The next batter was Michael Helman, who fouled off the first two pitches. Quintana tried to get him to swing under a 91 mph sinker up in the zone, but Helman was ready, hitting a rocket over the left field fence for a grand slam.
Quintana retired the next two batters to end the inning, but the damage was done. Texas led 4-0 leading into the sixth, which ended up being more than enough cushion to secure the win.
Milwaukee managed five more hits over the last four innings, but none of them turned into a run. Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio both singled in the sixth inning to put runners on first and second with two outs, but Perkins was thrown out at third trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt. The Crew loaded the bases again in the eighth courtesy of a walk from Isaac Collins (pinch-hitting for Durbin) and singles from Perkins and Bauers. Brice Turang, who has been one of the hottest hitters in the league since the calendar turned to August, couldn’t come in clutch — flying out to center for the third out.
Quintana remained in for the beginning of the seventh inning, but gave up an RBI double (also to Helman) and was pulled for Carlos Rodriguez. Milwaukee went down quietly in the ninth, and that was it for what was a pretty dismal showing offensively coming off a sweep of the Pirates. The Brewers went just 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position.
On a positive note, the Cubs also lost today, so the Brewers are still 7.5 games up in the division with 17 games to go. They will need to go 11-6 from here on out if they hope to reach 100 wins on the season. Back at it again tomorrow.
