The road trip for the Brewers started out with the offense mostly silent. They were shut out by the Giants 3-0 on Monday, the fifth time they have been shut out all season. However, it’s also the second time it’s happened in the last six games.
Scoring chances were very limited tonight. The first came in the second inning. Jake Bauers hit a one-out single, then Andrew Vaughn drew a walk following a challenge. It set up an early scoring chance, but Garrett Mitchell grounded into a double play
to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Brandon Sproat worked through the first two innings scoreless, but did have to work around a couple situations. In the first, Heliot Ramos hit a fly ball to right, and Bauers appeared to have an easy catch. However, it bounced out of his glove, and Ramos reached second on the error. Ramos would steal third, but Sproat kept him there with a strikeout and groundout.
The Giants got two more baserunners in the second. Casey Schmitt lead off the inning with a single, but had to come out of the game with a leg injury. Pinch-runner Christian Koss stole second and Willy Adames drew a walk, but Grant McCray hit into a double play and Sproat got out of the inning.
Sproat got into more trouble in the third, but this time the Giants broke through. Jesus Rodriguez led off the inning with a double, and Luis Arraez followed it up with a single to drive him in. That gave the Giants a 1-0 lead.
The fourth started with a leadoff walk by Koss, but Sproat erased him with his fifth pickoff of the season. Two batters later, Adames singled to left, and that set up McCray to hit a two-run home run to left, extending their lead to 3-0.
That was all that Sproat allowed, and he got through his remaining couple innings with no other damage. Sproat added his sixth pickoff of the season in the sixth inning. Drew Gilbert singled with one out, but Sproat picked him off with two outs. The initial call was safe, but a challenge overturned it. He’s now tied for the league lead in pickoffs with his two tonight.
The stat line was overall decent for Sproat. He pitched six innings and allowed three runs on six hits and three walks. He also struck out five in the loss. Even though he did allow three runs, he made sure the Brewers would not have to dip much into their bullpen tonight.
As for the offense, they kept spoiling any scoring chances they had. A Vaughn single in the fifth was erased when Mitchell grounded into a double play for the second time tonight. In the next inning, Cooper Pratt drew a leadoff walk but he was erased when Joey Ortiz grounded into the team’s third double play of the night.
Giants’ starter Tyler Mahle was on point tonight. He pitched six innings and started the seventh, allowing only three hits and two walks. He was pulled for the night after Jackson Chourio hit a leadoff single. Chourio reached second on a wild pitch, but reliever Sam Hentges stranded him there.
The Brewers didn’t have another baserunner in the eighth or ninth. Meanwhile, Garrett Stallings was the only reliever the Brewers needed to use, as he pitched the last two innings and allowed just a walk.
Vaughn was the only Brewer to reach base twice — a hit and a walk. Bauers and Chourio had a hit each, and Pratt had a walk. That was all the offense could do tonight.
The series continues tomorrow night in San Francisco. Logan Henderson will face Landen Roupp in the second game of the series. First pitch is at 9:45 p.m.
