The Brewers had their five game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night during this Reds series. However, the Brewers were able to overcome multiple spots of adversity and won two out of three games! Lets take a look back at how this series played out.
Game 1: 5-1W
The Brewers took advantage of the Reds bullpen in this game. Reds starter Sonny Gray was dealing through the first three innings with five strikeouts before being removed with a groin injury. As a result Sean Doolittle replaced him in the fourth inning, and Avisail Garcia immediately hit a solo home run to tie the game 1-1.
In the fifth inning, Luis Urias drew a lead off walk. Ryan Hendrix then proceeded to throw two wild pitches which advanced Urias to third base. Urias then scored on a RBI ground out from Christian Yelich. The offense remained quiet following this until the later innings. The main headline was a two out two RBI double from Travis Shaw in the ninth inning to make it 5-1.
From a pitching standpoint, Adrian Houser delivered 5.1 innings pitched. The ninth inning runs made it a non save situation so Hoby Milner was used instead of Josh Hader. Prior to that Brent Suter, Brad Boxberger, and Devin Williams all threw scoreless innings. Williams did strike out the side in the eighth inning.
Game 2: 7-3L
An ugly game from the start. The Brewers did actually score first, but rather unusually. Urias was hit by the first pitch of the game and later advanced from first to third on an Avisail Garcia single. Urias then scored off a balk from Reds pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez.
Defensively, the Brewers had to work hard. Back to back miscues from Anderson and Vogelbach in the first inning put traffic on the bases. Avisail Garcia then came up short on a sliding catch attempt and the Reds plated two runs in the first inning.
To make matters worse, in the second inning Travis Shaw dislocated his shoulder and was removed from the game. With a struggling defense and injuries, Eric Lauer pitched the majority of the middle innings in this game and struggled with command has he walked four batters.
Game 3: 7-2W
The early parts of this game belonged to Freddy Peralta and Luis Castillo. With each pitcher surrendering one early run, a 37 minute rain delay would eventually end Peralta’s day after four innings. Castillo did keep pitching and in fact retired 14 Brewers at one point.
Thankfully the Brewers got to Castillo and the reds bullpen in the 6th inning. Two early walks in the innings would eventually score as Willy Adames and Jace Peterson delivered clutch hits to put the Brewers up 4-2. Then a Daniel Vogelbach two run home run in the seventh put the game out of reach. That home run was Vogelbach’s second home run in as many days.
This series was especially kind to Willy Adames who recorded six hits over the three game stretch. Sticking with the theme of sixes, Christian Yelich drew six free passes as well. From a pitching perspective, Brad Boxberger worked two scoreless outings and has been pitching very well as of late.
The Brewers did not always look their sharpest in this series, but they found ways to win. Timely hitting seemed to be more apparent in this series, which is good given that we had to overcome the Travis Shaw injury and a rain delay that cut Freddy Peralta’s start short.
The Brewers will take on the Pittsburg Pirates over the weekend. Stay tuned to Wisconsin Sports Heroics for a preview of that upcoming series.
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