Box Score
The division has almost been secured. With their ace on the mound, the Brewers put together an all-around strong game to defeat the Pirates 5-1 on Tuesday night, lowering their magic number to one.
The Brewers got on the board first with some small ball. Jake Bauers led off the second inning with a single to right field. He moved over to second on a Christian Yelich groundout, then made it to third on a wild pitch by Lake Bachar. Luis Lara brought him in with a sacrifice fly, and the Brewers had
a 1-0 lead.
They had another chance to score with two outs. Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton hit back-to-back singles, and Garrett Mitchell worked a 3-0 count before getting intentionally walked. Jackson Chourio had a chance to break the game open with the bases loaded, but a fly out to center ended the inning.
Meanwhile, Jacob Misiorowski was efficient through his first three innings. He struck out the side in the first and had six strikeouts. In the fourth, the Pirates had a chance to break through. After striking out Oneil Cruz to start the inning, back-to-back singles by Nick Gonzales and Ryan O’Hearn put two runners on base.
After a mound visit, Rafael Flores Jr. hit the Pirates’ third straight single when Hamilton couldn’t get to a ground ball. The deflection sent the ball into shallow center field, and it was a spot where Gonzales should have been able to score. However, third base coach Tony Beasley held Gonzales at third. O’Hearn didn’t see Gonzales stop and kept running towards third, assuming he would score, while Chourio caught up to the ball and threw it in. O’Hearn was an easy out in no-man’s land, turning a bases loaded with one out situation into runners at the corners with two outs. That loomed bigger when Spencer Horwitz flew out to Chourio to end the inning, keeping the Pirates off the board.
The offense blew the game open in the sixth inning. Brice Turang led off the inning with a walk, then William Contreras hit a double to deep right to put two runners in scoring position. After Bauers struck out, Yelich drew a walk, but reliever Gregory Soto threw a wild pitch on ball four. Turang scored to make it a 2-0 lead.
The offense kept going as Luis Lara doubled into right field, scoring Contreras and putting runners at the corners again. Ortiz followed that up with another single, scoring Yelich and Lara all the way from first base. The rally ended there as Ortiz tried to steal but was caught, and Hamilton struck out to end the inning.
With the Brewers up 5-0, and the top of the sixth taking a while, Misiorowski’s day came to an end a little early. He pitched five scoreless innings and threw 84 pitches, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out seven. It was likely just a workload management decision, with the Brewers holding a five-run lead.
Aaron Ashby was the first reliever out of the bullpen. He started off with a clean sixth inning. He came back out for the seventh, but started out rough. He walked O’Hearn, then Flores Jr. singled. Ashby recovered from there, getting two line outs and a groundout to end the inning and keep the Pirates off the board.
DL Hall took the eighth inning and allowed a leadoff home run to Brandon Lowe, ending the shutout. Gonzales hit a two-out single but that was it, as Hall got out of the inning with no further damage.
Trevor Megill took the ninth inning despite it being a four-run lead and not a save situation. The inning started rough as he allowed back-to-back singles to Flores Jr. and pinch hitter Ronny Simon. Jake Mangum hit a ground ball to the left side of second, Ortiz grabbed it and threw to Turang, who ran past second but managed to get his foot on the bag for the out. After that, pop outs from Konnor Griffin and Brandon Lowe ended the game.
It was a balanced day for the offense. Every starter other than Chourio reached base safely at least once. Ortiz led the offense with a three-hit day, and Turang reached base four times with four walks. Lara and Ortiz each drove in two runs.
Looking at the scoreboard, the Dodgers defeated the Reds 4-0 to keep the Brewers’ lead for the best record in MLB at two games. Meanwhile, the Braves have mounted a comeback and lead 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to two separate two-run home runs. If the lead holds, the Brewers will clinch the NL Central.
Tomorrow’s game will feature Logan Henderson and Jared Jones. First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. Meanwhile, stay tuned here to see if the Brewers clinch the division.
