Brewers surge early, hold off Guardians in series opener

Willy Adames launches an early home run to back up Civale’s great start

Box Score

Willy Adames set the tone for the Brewers’ win with a first-inning home run as Milwaukee took the first game of their series against the Guardians.

The Brewers, facing the team with the best record in baseball, jumped on Cleveland early to settle into an emphatic win.

The top of the lineup put together some flashy plays, but nearly missed out on the run-scoring opportunity. Gavin Williams, the struggling Cleveland starter, was vulnerable. The sensational Jackson Chourio worked a full count before lacing a curveball to left field for a triple.

Instantly under pressure, Williams bailed himself out when a quick chopper back to the mound allowed him to catch Chourio in between third base and home. The fielder’s choice, at least, left a man on first. It was a deflating moment after the quick start, but Adames made sure the Brewers didn’t leave empty handed. After William Conteras reached on a hit-by-pitch, Adames hit a three-run home run to take a convincing lead.

Tyler Black reached on a single in the third inning with Conteras working a walk. It was two quick runners again with Williams on the mound as Garrett Mitchell came through with a sharp hit through the infield to bring in a run.

Two more hitters would get involved in the action in the fourth inning. Joey Ortiz would knock a triple of his own with Brice Turang poking a hit up through the middle for his 50th RBI. Turang continues to make an impact this week as he looks to rebound from some recent struggles. Plays like this are what make him valuable when his contact skills persistently pressure opponents.

A three-run lead itself isn’t necessarily a guarantee of any sort, but with Aaron Civale having one of his best nights as a Brewer, it put the Brewers ahead by a mile. Civale went six strong innings while allowing just four hits and a walk. He shut out the Guardians while adding four strikeouts to his stat page.

His encouraging performance settled the game as the Brewers tacked on some insurance runs. He even managed to back up some faulty defense in the fourth inning. After allowing a leadoff single, a pair of errors from Adames kept runners on the corners rather than converting the double play. But Civale was unphased, forcing a popout and a strikeout to finish the inning.

The offense slowed down for a while, but the bullpen had plenty of room to work. Unfortunately, a difficult night from Bryse Wilson made the ordeal more stressful than necessary. Wilson recorded a single out while allowing three runs on three hits. Two of those were home runs, suddenly shrinking the Brewers lead to a 5-3 margin.

Nick Mears entered with two impressive strikeouts to shut down the frame and send the Brewers into the ninth with a reasonable lead.

Joel Payamps was the one called upon for closing duties after Devin Williams worked consecutive days to close out the Dodgers series. Facing the 8-9-1 hitters, Payamps worked a quick strikeout against Daniel Schneeman. Once again getting ahead in the count, a harmless fly ball from Bo Naylor left Payamps needing one out.

Guardians’ leadoff man Steven Kwan sent a ball careening into the right-center field gap, but Sal Frelick covered a lot of grass to make the jumping catch in stride, ending the game.

The Brewers now eke ever closer to overtaking the Guardians for the best record in baseball. The teams will do it again tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. on FOX. Freddy Peralta and Tanner Bibee are scheduled to start for the national broadcast.