It was a seesaw game that ended with Arizona on top
The Milwaukee Brewers dropped their series finale in Arizona on Sunday afternoon, losing 11-10 in 10 innings to the Diamondbacks in a back-and-forth game as they couldn’t complete the sweep.
The Brewers forced Zac Gallen to work in the first, but they had nothing to show for it. Brice Turang walked, Jackson Chourio flew out, and Willy Adames struck out as Turang swiped second base for his 43rd steal of the season. Garrett Mitchell then drew a walk but Rhys Hoskins struck out to end the inning, though Gallen had to throw 28 pitches.
Arizona came right back in the first to score a pair off DL Hall, as Corbin Carroll, Christian Walker, Eugenio Suárez, and Josh Bell hit four consecutive singles to make it 2-0 early. After a mound visit, Hall induced an inning-ending double play to escape without further damage.
Gallen settled down after his lengthy first inning, getting Milwaukee to go 1-2-3 on offense. Hall allowed a walk and Brice Turang made an error on a weird hop, but the Diamondbacks weren’t able to push anything else across in the second.
The Brewers came out in the third looking like they might break through against Gallen, as Eric Haase and Turang both singled to start the frame. Chourio grounded into what was initially called a double play, but he was ruled safe at first after review. With runners at the corners and one out, Gallen set both Adames and Mitchell down on strikes to escape.
Hall got Walker and Suárez for the first two outs in the third but had trouble getting the last out, allowing two walks and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases for Pavin Smith, who hit a double down the right-field line to clear the bases and give Arizona a 5-0 lead.
Hall was replaced by Joe Ross in the fourth, and Ross picked up two strikeouts in the inning to hand it back over to Milwaukee’s offense. For the second time in three innings, Haase and Turang led off the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on for Chourio with no outs. This time, Chourio came through, hitting a line drive into the left-field seats for a three-run homer, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
Fitting that he hit his 21st HR on #ClementeDay @Bryanchourio11 https://t.co/NjQ2k9ZN0O pic.twitter.com/v1NO6MKmuq
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 15, 2024
The Diamondbacks tried to get at least one back against Ross in the bottom of the inning with Bell drawing a walk and Jake McCarthy bunting for a single. On the throw to first, Haase overthrew Hoskins, allowing Bell to advance to third as McCarthy attempted to get to second. Luckily, a carom off the wall allowed Turang to make an easy play at second to nab McCarthy. Ross worked around Bell at third base with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game locked at 5-3 entering the sixth.
In the top of the sixth, Joey Ortiz worked a one-out walk before Haase hit a two-run homer — his third hit of the game — to tie it up at 5-5. With two outs, the Brewers wouldn’t let up. Turang and Chourio both singled before Adames hit a two-run double to give Milwaukee the 7-5 lead.
Scariest two-out team in the Bigs @ehaase3 https://t.co/H6fRtwJFdt pic.twitter.com/r4VM04LSTY
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 15, 2024
SEVEN UNANSWERED RUNS FOR THE LEAD@willya02 pic.twitter.com/Ai8Ios0iIb
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 15, 2024
Aaron Ashby came on in relief with one out and one runner on in the sixth, and he worked around some trouble to get Suárez on a strikeout with runners at the corners.
The Brewers tacked on another in the seventh with a bit of small ball. Hoskins walked and Jake Bauers singled before Ortiz attempted to move the runners over with a bunt. The bunt wasn’t good though and pitcher Ryan Thompson turned a 1-5-3 double play to get the lead runner and leave Bauers at second with two outs. After Bauers stole third base, Sal Frelick singled to bring in another run, making it 8-5.
Ashby ran into more trouble in the seventh inning, as he gave up a very long 424-foot double to Bell, who missed a homer by mere inches in left center. McCarthy moved him over to third with a groundout, and Geraldo Perdomo brought him around with an RBI single. Pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk hit an RBI double to cut the Brewers’ lead to just one, but pinch-runner Kevin Newman ran into an out at third base before Ketel Marte ended the inning with a groundout against Joel Payamps, who entered the game for Ashby.
After a scoreless eighth for the Brewers, Trevor Megill got into trouble right away in the bottom of the inning, walking Carroll on four pitches. Carroll immediately stole second base, but Megill struck Walker out to get the first out of the inning. A wild pitch by Megill allowed Carroll to advance to third, and Suárez punched a sacrifice fly into center to even the game up at 8-8. He got out of the inning as Bell grounded out, but the damage was done.
The Brewers couldn’t put up anything against high-velocity reliever Justin Martinez, as Bauers was the only baserunner to reach on a two-out walk. Jared Koenig got the ninth looking to send it to extras and he set McCarthy, Perdomo, and Newman in order without much trouble.
Ortiz started the 10th at second base as Milwaukee’s ghost runner, and Martinez was back on the mound for another inning against Frelick, Haase, and Turang. Frelick popped up on a bunt, Haase just missed a homer, and the Diamondbacks oddly opted to intentionally walk Turang to face Chourio. Chourio made them pay on the first pitch he saw, a 103-mph fastball down the middle, hitting a grounder down the right-field line for a two-run triple and a 10-8 lead.
The Diamondbacks just intentionally walked a batter to face Jackson Chourio in the clutch…
Bold choice. pic.twitter.com/A62A2T8vpQ
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 15, 2024
Blake Walston came on in relief of Martinez to get the third out and he set Adames down on strikes to send it to the bottom of the 10th with Koenig staying in rather than bringing Devin Williams in. Koenig gave up back-to-back singles to Adrian Del Castillo and Marte to allow the deficit to be cut to 10-9, the tying run on second, and the winning run on first with Carroll coming up to the plate. At this point, Williams started warming up after initial speculation from the broadcast booth that there may be an injury concern.
Carroll drilled a single to right that moved everyone up, bringing Walker up with the bases loaded and still nobody out. Koenig then hit Walker on the second pitch he saw, bringing in the tying run and moving the winning run over to third.
Suárez once again came through to drive in the winning run on a hit off the right-field wall giving Milwaukee a heartbreaking 11-10 extra-inning loss to cap off their road trip.
Both managers made odd decisions in the extra frame, with bench coach Jeff Banister for Arizona (in for Torey Lovullo, who was at a funeral) opting to intentionally walk Turang to face Chourio and Pat Murphy sticking with Koenig over Williams in extras. There’s always the possibility that something was going on with Williams — he was noticeably upset after warming up during the 10th inning — but for now it appears it may have cost them the game.
UPDATE: Per Curt Hogg, here was Pat Murphy’s (paraphrased) comment on the situation after the game.
Pat Murphy’s reasoning for sticking with Koenig, paraphrased, is they were closely monitoring Devin Williams’ workload and wanted to get him up in case there was a spot to face a hitter or two, but not more. They felt good about Koenig’s chances after a clean ninth.
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) September 16, 2024
Hall and Ashby, who have both been great since returning from Triple-A, didn’t have their A-stuff today. Hall allowed five runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts over three innings. Ashby allowed two runs on four hits with one strikeout over 1 1⁄3 innings. Ross and Payamps were the only Brewers’ pitchers who played today to not allow a run, as Megill gave up one run and Koenig gave up three (two earned) in the loss.
On offense, Turang, Chourio, and Haase led the day with three hits each. Chourio came a double away from the cycle, driving in five and scoring twice, while Turang scored three runs.
The Brewers will try to shake this one off as they return home for a seven-game homestand starting Monday against the Phillies. Aaron Civale is set to start against Ranger Suárez with first pitch at 6:40 p.m. in Monday’s series opener.