One night after the Brewers clinched their fourth straight NL Central title, they were back in action. And while one might think that the team might let up a bit a day after taking care of business and holding their first big celebration of the season, one would be wrong. On Wednesday night, the Brewers did exactly what they’ve been doing all season; not ever giving up. It would’ve been easy for the team to roll over when Logan Henderson faltered and the bullpen surrendered a lead, but that’s not in this group’s DNA. When all was said and done, the Brewers eked out another close victory as they continue their march to the league’s best record.
Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones, who is not short of firepower, came out of the gate throwing gas and getting whiffs as he struck out Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, and Jake Bauers in order. Henderson faced the minimum in the first despite a leadoff single by Konnor Griffin, who was caught trying to steal second for the last out of the inning.
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After Jones got William Contreras and Christian Yelich to start the second, the Brewers put together a very Brewersy rally. Joey Ortiz, Luis Lara, Andrew Vaughn, and Cooper Pratt strung together four consecutive singles, the latter two of which scored the game’s first two runs, and Milwaukee was out to an early lead.
The Pirates tried to answer with a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the inning, when Ryan O’Hearn and Ronny Simon singled and doubled after Henderson struck out the first two batters of the inning. But O’Hearn was held at third, and Jacob Gonzalez popped out harmlessly to end the inning.
That was most of the action until the bottom of the fourth, when Henderson’s first blemish came on one of those scary Oneil Cruz home runs, the kind that go 113 mph and look flat on their way out. Milwaukee had an immediate answer, though: in the top of the fifth, Pratt led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a Brice Turang double which made it 3-1.
Pittsburgh, though, got to Henderson a bit in the bottom of the fifth. Again with two outs, Griffin doubled and the next batter, Brandon Lowe, popped a two-run homer that tied it—it was almost a shock, given how well Henderson has been pitching. For just the third time all season, Henderson had allowed three runs.
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The bullpens got involved in the sixth. Yohan Ramírez had no trouble in the top of the inning, but JoJo Romero, in for the bottom of the inning, gave up a solo homer to Rafael Flores Jr which gave the Pirates their first lead of the night.
But here’s where the Brewers decided they wouldn’t let it get away from them. In the top of the seventh, Turang walked, Chourio singled, and Bauers walked to load the bases with nobody out. A fielder’s choice from Contreras gave the Pirates the first out, but the captain came through: with the infield pulled in, Yelich got a single past third baseman Jared Triolo and down the left-field line for a single. Two runs scored, and Milwaukee was back on top, 5-4.
The Brewer bullpen bent but did not break after that. Senzatela gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, and with one out, his replacement, Shane Drohan, gave up another. But Drohan got perpetual Brewer nemesis Bryan Reynolds to ground into a 4-3 double play which ended the inning. Milwaukee’s double play defense showed up again in the eighth: after Cruz hit a leadoff single, Drohan was replaced by Uribe, who erased him with a double play from Flores Jr. that killed Pittsburgh’s momentum.
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Despite some hard contact, the Brewers didn’t add on in the eighth or ninth, and they turned their 5-4 lead over to Trevor Megill. He closed the door, as he has done so many times this season: strikeout, strikeout, groundout. Brewers win.
It wasn’t exactly a standout day for the Brewer offense—Pratt, with his two singles, was the only Brewer with multiple hits. But it was a balanced attack, as every Brewer starter had a hit, and that 10-hit barrage (with some timely hitting in there) was enough to get the Brewers over the line. That was good news for Henderson, who wasn’t quite at his typical excellent best, but who led the team to victory anyway.
The Brewers have already clinched almost everything they can clinch, but why not get greedy? They’ll go for a sweep tomorrow with Kyle Harrison back on the bump (that’ll be interesting) at 11:35 am central time.
