Brewers edge Diamondbacks behind dominant bullpen

Brewer relievers combine for four no-hit innings in 2-1 victory

Box Score

The scoreline of this game would suggest that it was a pitchers’ duel. I suppose it was, but neither of this game’s starting pitchers—the Milwaukee Brewers’ Freddy Peralta and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Eduardo Rodriguez—looked all that good. There was a lot of traffic on the bases and a lot of hard contact, but both pitchers managed to wiggle their way out of trouble, for the most part. After five innings of that, both teams handed the game over to dominant bullpens, who held the score in place until the end of the night.

It looked like it would be a good start for Milwaukee. Jackson Chourio, fresh off of becoming the youngest 20/20 player in major-league history on Thursday, led off the game by knocking a double into the left field gap. But, despite a William Contreras walk with one out, the Brewers were unable to advance Chourio any further.

After that somewhat deflating outcome, Peralta came out and walked Corbin Carroll (a bad idea) and gave up a base hit to Ketel Marte. A Joc Pederson groundout advanced both runners and after a Christian Walker walk, Carroll scored on a Pavin Smith sac fly. Peralta did strike out Jake McCarthy to get out of the inning with only one run across, but it wasn’t a great outcome for a first inning that started with a Chourio double.

Both pitchers worked around two-out singles to put up zeroes in the second inning. Chourio led off the third with a walk, but he was caught leaning off of first by Rodríguez and was thrown out at second. Rodríguez struck out Garrett Mitchell and Contreras to end the inning, and he had his strikeout stuff going tonight: he was already up to seven strikeouts through three innings, despite not having struck out more than five in any of his six starts this season.

Peralta gave up another two-out hit in the bottom of the third when Walker lined a double down the left-field line, but he was thrown out at third on a ball that got away—but not that far away—from Contreras. Peralta was through three with just the one run allowed, but he was already up to 65 pitches, and it was starting to feel a lot like last weekend’s start against the Rockies (which did not end well).

Milwaukee made some good contact in the fourth. Gary Sánchez lined a single to left (that hit a diving Smith in the face) and Willy Adames hit one hard to left center, but McCarthy caught it on the run. Blake Perkins then also smoked a ball—106 mph—but it was right at Smith in left for another out. But the next batter, Rhys “Hard-Luck” Hoskins, finally hit a ball hard that wasn’t right at a fielder. Instead, it went 423 feet out to left, just inside the foul pole, and it flipped the score: Milwaukee took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth.

Peralta was still dealing with the curse of the two-out hit in the fourth, as Geraldo Perdomo snuck a double over first base, but Hoskins flashed some glove on a 104.5-mph grounder by Jose Herrera for the third out.

Milwaukee threatened in the top of the fifth. Joey Ortiz reached on an infield hit (on a play on which he and Walker collided at first base) and Chourio hit a deep fly ball to left, but Smith caught it on the warning track. The Brewers were still in business after Mitchell reached on a Rodriguez throwing error after a bunt, but Milwaukee made another out on the bases as a pickoff and double rundown ended with Ortiz out at third. Contreras was intentionally walked, and Sánchez hit one hard but grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Peralta continued to flirt with danger in the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff single by Carroll was erased on a Marte double play, but Joc Pederson hit a solid single with two outs and Walker walked. We found ourselves in nearly the exact same spot as last Saturday, when Peralta, with an inflated pitch count, was pulled (unhappily) with two runners on and two outs in the fifth, and the next batter hit a three-run homer. This time, Pat Murphy left him in to deal with his own trouble, and Smith got a hold of one, 104 mph and 391 feet to right center, but it died on the warning track. A very close call, but Peralta was through five innings with the lead intact.

Both starters were done after five. Rodriguez was replaced in the sixth by Ryan Thompson and his funky sidearm delivery, and he had no trouble retiring the Brewers in order. Peralta gave way to Joel Payamps, who also shut down the Diamondbacks—it was the first three-up, three-down inning for a Brewer pitcher, as Peralta dealt with traffic in each of his five innings.

Joe Mantiply and Jared Koenig both threw 1-2-3 frames in the seventh. Isaac Collins replaced Mitchell with the lefty Mantiply still out there to start the eighth, and Collins drew a walk. Mantiply gave way to flamethrowing Justin Martinez; Collins moved to second on a Contreras groundout, pinch-hitter Jake Bauer fouled off a bunch of pitches before striking out on a 103-mph fastball on the 11^th pitch of his at-bat, and Adames grounded out to end the frame.

Trevor Megill was on for the Brewers in the eighth inning of this tight affair against the toughest part of the Arizona lineup. He gave up a one-out walk to Walker but got Smith to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Trade deadline pickup A.J. Puk, who has allowed only one run in 19 innings since arriving in the desert from Miami, was the new Diamondbacks pitcher in the top of the ninth. Hoskins drew a one-out walk, and with two outs Ortiz tomahawked a double into right field, putting runners on second and third. Chourio was intentionally walked, which loaded the bases for Sal Frelick, who’d entered defensively in the eighth. He hit one fairly solidly down the left-field line, but Arizona had their outfield in the right spot, and the inning ended. Devin Williams would not have any room for error.

Williams was on for the ninth to try to get his second save in as many days after a somewhat nervy 18-pitch outing on Thursday. Williams had good control of the Airbender tonight, which is always a good sign: he got McCarthy on a weak fly ball, he struck out Eugenio Suarez, and he got Perdomo on a fly ball to center (though off the bat, it may have made a couple of Brewer-fan hearts jump into Brewer-fan throats). Game over: Brewers win, 2-1.

It was a strange game that felt like it should have been way more high-scoring than it was. Neither starter was particularly sharp, but both did just enough to keep the other team in check. Hoskins was the big star of this game: he hit the two-run homer, his 24th, but he also had a walk and a good defensive play in the fourth. Chourio was another offensive standout, as he had the leadoff double, he nearly homered, and he walked twice. Ortiz was the only player in the game with multiple hits, including his ninth-inning double.

Peralta Houdini’d his way through five innings while allowing just one run. While he didn’t have a single 1-2-3 inning, he managed to get the first two outs in three of his five innings, which made it a little easier to pitch out of trouble. Once Peralta gave way to the bullpen, they shut things down completely: Payamps, Koenig, Megill, and Williams combined for four innings of no-hit ball, and they faced the minimum, with Megill’s walk the only blemish.

The series will continue tomorrow with an earlier start, at 7:10 p.m. CT (5:10 local), with Tobias Myers and Brandon Pfaadt facing off.