Kansas City made today’s game interesting a couple of times, but Milwaukee held on for the win. Kyle Harrison turned in another impressive performance and got plenty of run support, propelling the Brewers to their third straight series victory.
Royals starter Kris Bubic retired Brice Turang and Luis Rengifo to start the game, but William Contreras walked to keep the inning alive. Up next was Christian Yelich, who worked a full count before flaring a line drive down the left field line. Kansas City
leftfielder Nick Loftin, sprinting down the left field line, laid out to catch the liner and just missed it. The ball landed in fair territory and kicked off the wall, allowing William Contreras to score easily as Yelich raced into third with a triple.
Gary Sánchez also took Bubic to a full count before squaring up a fastball up in the zone for a 109 mph two-run home run, already his third of the season.
Luis Matos struck out for the third out, but the damage was done — Milwaukee led 3-0 before Harrison even threw a pitch.
Harrison was dealing to start the game, allowing only one batter to reach (on a walk) through the first two innings. He finally gave up his first hit in the third; unfortunately, that hit was a Maikel Garcia home run on a middle-in fastball that probably shouldn’t be thrown to Maikel Garcia. That brought the Royals within one run, but they weren’t done yet. Harrison didn’t want to give Bobby Witt Jr. anything good to hit, walking him on five pitches to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. After a mound visit, Witt Jr. stole second. Vinny Pasquantino lined a single into right field, but Matos — making his first start as a Brewer — nailed Witt Jr. at the plate with an absolute frozen rope. Just a beautiful throw:
Pasquantino took second base on a wild pitch, but Salvador Perez flew out to end the inning with the Brewers still ahead by a run.
It didn’t take long for Milwaukee to answer. Sánchez and Matos both struck out to start the fourth, but Brandon Lockridge walked to keep the inning alive. Blake Perkins then hit a fly ball over the head of Loftin that one-hopped the left-field wall, scoring the speedy Lockridge to give the Brewers an insurance run. Perkins promptly stole third, but Joey Ortiz was unable to capitalize, striking out on a foul tip to keep the Royals within two runs.
Harrison retired the side in the fourth and allowed only a single to Loftin in the fifth. Sánchez walked and Matos singled off of old friend Nick Mears to start the top of the sixth, both advancing thanks to a Brandon Lockridge sacrifice bunt. Perkins grounded into a fielders choice at home, giving the Brewers runners on the corners with two outs. Up next was Ortiz, who hit a ground ball to Witt Jr. at shortstop for the third out.
Harrison was pulled after retiring Pasquantino with one out in the sixth. His final line: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. Other than the home run to Garcia, he was dealing today. It’s only his second start this season, but it’s hard not to think the Brewers have found something in Harrison.
Grant Anderson came in to face Perez and immediately gave up a double, although he retired the next two batters to keep the Royals off the board. He came back out for the seventh and ceded a single to Starling Marte, then walked Jonathan India to put two runners on. Brewers manager Pat Murphy quickly made the call to the bullpen, bringing in relief ace Abner Uribe to face Isaac Collins. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to escape the jam in his usual fashion. Collins came through against his old teammate, singling to load the bases. Maikel Garcia also singled, bringing in a run and keeping the bases loaded.
Things looked like they could quickly get out of hand with Witt Jr. coming to the plate, but Uribe got him to stare at a fastball on the outside corner for the first out of the inning. With Pasquantino, a lefty, coming to the plate, Murphy pulled Uribe in favor of Angel Zerpa. The move didn’t pay off, as Pasquantino singled to again bring the Royals within a run. With two on and still only one out, Perez squared up a Zerpa slider for a line drive that settled into the glove of Garrett Mitchell, who had come in as a defensive replacement for Matos. Zerpa then got Lane Thomas to ground out to shortstop for the third out, preserving the lead.
Kansas City didn’t score again, while Milwaukee got a couple of insurance runs in the top of the ninth thanks to doubles by Yelich and Jake Bauers (who also entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh) and a single by Brandon Lockridge.
Those two runs would bring the game to its eventual final score: Milwaukee 8, Kansas City 5. Trevor Megill worked around a Witt Jr. single in the ninth to earn his third save this season.
Although this was the final game of this weekend’s series against the Royals, the Brewers won’t get to go home yet. They’ll be in Boston tomorrow for the first of three games at Fenway Park. Brandon Woodruff will go for the visiting team, with Brayan Bello scheduled to start for the Red Sox. First pitch is slated for 5:45 p.m.
