Brewers fail to hold early lead, fall 6-5 in heartbreaker

Inability to add on after big first inning dooms Milwaukee

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers suffered a tough loss at the hands of the Washington Nationals this afternoon, a game in which they got out to a big lead early. But the offense, which has been struggling lately, was shut down by the Nationals’ bullpen after they chased starter Mitchell Parker in the first inning, and their inability to add on came back to bite them as Trevor Megill blew his second save of the season.

The beginning of this game could have gone far differently. The Nationals got a one-out single from Lane Thomas that was followed by a double by Juan Yepez, which put runners on second and third. But Keuchel got a huge strikeout of James Wood for the second out and Harold Ramírez grounded out to help Keuchel out of the jam.

On the other side of the ball, the Brewers looked to be in business: Jackson Chourio led off with a double and Joey Ortiz followed with a walk. But after the big hitters in the lineup, William Contreras and Willy Adames, both struck out, it looked like the struggling Brewers offense was going to let Parker off the hook. Instead, with two outs, Rhys Hoskins lined a double down the left-field line that scored both Chourio and Ortiz. Sal Frelick followed with an 11-pitch walk (which the broadcast tells us was the longest at-bat of Frelick’s career), and Andruw Monasterio hit one into the gap that bounced over the wall to make it 3-0. With long at-bats for both Frelick and Monasterio, Parker was up to 46 pitches, and Nationals manager Dave Martinez had no choice but to pull him before he could complete an inning.

But the Nationals weren’t out of it yet. Parker was replaced by Jordan Weems, and he walked Blake Perkins to load the bases, and he was followed by Eric Haase, who lined a single into center field to score two more. That brought up Chourio for the second time in the inning, and he hit one hard on the ground but Yepez made the play at first and the inning was finally over. The Brewers had sent 10 batters to the plate, and they led 5-0.

Keuchel was back on the mound in the second with a five-run lead, and he allowed a one-out single but got the next batter, Trey Lipscomb, to ground into a double play and he had the “shutdown inning” that the Brewers have had so much trouble with over the last couple of weeks. Weems bounced back nicely in the second inning and got the 2-3-4 hitters in the Brewers’ order to go down 1-2-3.

Keuchel’s good afternoon continued in the third, as he retired the side in order for the first time in the game. The Brewers got an infield hit from Frelick with one out in the bottom of the third, his fourth hit and fifth time on base in his last six plate appearances, and with Monasterio at the plate, he stole second and third base. Monasterio walked on that second steal, which put runners at the corners with one out, and that was the end of the afternoon for Weems.

On the first pitch from former Brewer Jacob Barnes, Monasterio stole second, which gave Perkins a chance with runners on second and third and just one out. But Perkins struck out, and Haase was unable to recreate his two-out heroics from the first inning and struck out also. (It didn’t feel like a lot in the moment because the Brewers were up by five, but this was the sort of annoying missed opportunity that the Brewers’ offense has been having trouble with lately.)

Keuchel ran into trouble in the fourth. Yepez and Wood led off the inning with back-to-back singles and put runners on the corners with no outs. Ramírez hit what was close to a perfect double play ball but it was just a little too far up the middle and out of the reach of Adames at shortstop, and the Nats were on the board. Ildemaro Vargas hit another ground ball that could have been a double play, but Ortiz was unable to make the play and it bounced off his glove into foul territory. That scored Wood and put runners at second and third. Riley Adams followed with another single, which made it 5-3; the Nationals had five straight hits and there was still no one out, and that was where the day ended for Keuchel.

Jakob Junis was the first man out of the bullpen today, and on his first pitch, Lipscomb popped out to Hoskins. Five pitches later, he got Jacob Young to ground into a double play (on which Hoskins made a great pick) and the Brewers were able to limit the damage to three runs. That closed the book on Keuchel: he had some tough luck in the fourth inning but finished with eight hits, three runs, two strikeouts, and no walks in three innings.

Barnes stayed in the game and shut down the Brewers in the bottom of the fourth. Junis gave out a one-out double to Thomas in the top of the fifth, but got out of the inning with no further trouble; the most notable event in the top of the fifth may have been when Sophia Minnaert got hit by a foul ball mid-sideline-hit and never stopped reporting! What a trooper. Adames led off the bottom of the inning with a base hit and with one out, Frelick hit a hard line drive, but it was snagged and Adames was doubled off first. The score remained 5-3 after five.

Brice Turang, fresh into the game as a defensive sub, made a really nice play on a Ramírez chopper for the first out of the top of the sixth. Junis got Vargas on a tapper back to the mound and then got an assist from Ortiz, who made a great diving stop at third base to get Adams for the third out. Dylan Floro replaced Barnes in the bottom of the sixth, but the Brewers didn’t fare any better against him than they had against Barnes, as Floro got a 1-2-3 inning.

Junis, who had pitched really well for three innings, gave up a leadoff homer to pinch hitter Luis García Jr. in the top of the seventh to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 5-4. Junis got one more out, but it was on a hard line drive, and that was the end of his day—he finished with one run allowed in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings on two hits, no walks, and one strikeout. Elvis Peguero was the choice out of the bullpen, and he retired Abrams and Thomas without any trouble and the Brewers kept their lead.

Floro was on for his second inning in the bottom of the seventh, and he successfully worked around a two-out walk to Contreras as the Brewers continued to be flustered by the Washington bullpen. Peguero stayed in to start the eighth but walked Yepez to get things started. Peguero then took advantage of rookie Wood’s eagerness and struck him out with a handful of off-speed pitches, then got Keibert Ruiz to pop out in foul territory behind first base. But Peguero also walked Vargas to put two on, and Murphy would not let him finish the eighth inning; he made the move for his closer, Trevor Megill, one out earlier than he would have liked.

Megill had a dramatic matchup with yesterday’s star and villain, Jesse Winker. Megill appeared to strike Winker out on a 2-2 pitch; not only was it clearly in the zone, but it looked like Winker was unable to check his swing. But the pitch was not called a strike, and on appeal, the third base umpire ruled it to not have been a swing. A double whammy. Megill, though, was unfazed and got Winker swinging on the next pitch, a 100-mph fastball, and let the home plate ump feel his frustration on his way to the dugout.

Hoskins had what looked off the bat like an infield hit to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but do not underestimate Hoskins’ slowness; he was thrown out by Abrams at first. Frelick lined one into center but it was caught, and Turang struck out, and Megill would not have any cushion to work with in the bottom of the ninth.

Megill had never earned a save that was more than an inning, and he wouldn’t in this one. He gave up a leadoff single to García Jr., who was bunted to second by Young, but the bunt was mooted when Abrams got a fastball down the middle that he didn’t miss and hit out to the bleachers in right field. Washington took a 6-5 lead. The Nationals nearly got another one when Yepez hit one to the warning track with two outs, but Perkins made the catch to end the top of the ninth.

The Brewers, who had managed just one hit since the third inning and no runs since the first, would need to find something late in this one. Kyle Finnegan was on to close and got things started by getting Perkins to pop out to shallow right on a 3-1 pitch. Jake Bauers came on to pinch hit for Haase, and he battled wonderfully and drew a 10-pitch walk. Chourio was next and hit a tapper in front of the plate that worked effectively as a sacrifice bunt and advanced Bauers to second with two outs. Ortiz was the Brewers’ last hope, and he hit one deep to right… but Lane Thomas jumped up at the warning track and hauled it in against the wall, ending the game.

It was another demoralizing loss for the Brewers, who got out to an early 5-0 lead but couldn’t hold it and couldn’t add on. They had one excellent chance to do so in the third inning but failed to, and it ended up costing the Brewers the game.

The loss means that the Brewers will go into the All-Star break having lost back-to-back series at home against sub-.500 teams, a mid-season swoon that has become all too common in recent years. They’ll try to salvage a game tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. when Colin Rea takes on Jake Irvin.