Brewers take down Rangers with barrage of homers, 9-4

Hoskins homers twice in 3-for-3 day, Yelich goes 0-for-3 in first game since July

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers picked up another win Saturday afternoon in a slugfest that featured five Brewers’ homers as they took down Kumar Rocker and the Texas Rangers, 9-4, with a lineup that was a potential preview of Opening Day for the Crew.

Tobias Myers got the start for the Brewers, tossing a scoreless first with one strikeout as he allowed a leadoff single before settling in.

Milwaukee’s offense got started right away against Rocker in the first, as Jackson Chourio started things off with a double. Christian Yelich, in his first game since back surgery after the All-Star break last season, struck out in his first at-bat, but William Contreras followed with an RBI single.

They wouldn’t stop there, though, as Garrett Mitchell walked and Rhys Hoskins singled to load the bases. After Contreras was picked off by catcher Jonah Heim at third, Brice Turang hit a three-run homer to extend the lead to 4-0.

Texas got two of those runs right back in the second, as new pitcher Jacob Misiorowski allowed a single to Heim before Dustin Harris homered to cut the lead to 4-2. Misiorowski ultimately pitched two innings, showing better command than he did in his spring debut earlier this week as he struck out one while allowing three hits and no walks.

The Brewers wouldn’t surrender their lead the rest of the day, as Hoskins and Joey Ortiz both hit solo homers in the third to make it 6-2. They’d tack on two more in the fourth when Oliver Dunn and Chourio hit back-to-back singles, Yelich brought Dunn in with a sac fly, and Contreras hit a solo homer to make it 8-2.

Hoskins hit his second homer of the afternoon in the fifth, extending the lead to 9-2.

The Rangers picked up a run in both the eighth and the ninth, but the final would hold at 9-4 as the Brewers moved to .500 this spring.

After the starters exited, prospects Braylon Payne and Cooper Pratt both appeared late. Pratt went 0-for-1 with a strikeout, while Payne walked before being caught stealing third base.

Key contributors today included Chourio (2-for-2 with a double, single, and a walk), Contreras (2-for-3 with a homer, and two RBIs), Hoskins (3-for-3 with two homers and three runs scored), and homers from Turang and Ortiz. Yelich went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and an RBI in his return to baseball.

On the mound, Connor Thomas pitched a pair of scoreless innings, striking out the side in his first inning of work before another three-up-three-down inning in the sixth. Vinny Nittoli allowed one unearned run over two innings while Myers and Mears each tossed scoreless innings.

The Brewers return to action Sunday afternoon against the Cleveland Guardians. Grant Anderson will make his third appearance of the spring and his first as the starter. First pitch is at 2:05 p.m. and the game will be available on the Brewers Radio Network.