Colin Rea shuts down Braves as offense erupts for 10 runs

Rea and Joe Ross combine for shutout, Adames and Contreras lead offense

Box Score

The vibes around the Milwaukee Brewers have not been great over the past few weeks, and there was a lot of hand-wringing (some on this website!) between their 4-3 loss to the Nationals on Sunday and the beginning of today’s three-game series in Atlanta. Tomorrow, the offense could dry up and they could look like the same uninspired team we’ve been seeing for the last several weeks. But tonight, the offense was clicking, Colin Rea twirled a gem, and the vibes were good.

The Milwaukee offense came out like they had something to prove. Brice Turang singled to center on the first pitch of the game from Braves starter Bryce Elder, stole second when Jackson Chourio struck out, and moved to third on a wild pitch. When Garrett Mitchell struck out with Turang on third for the second out, this writer sighed in resignation, but as I mentioned, there was something to prove. William Contreras knocked a 2-2 pitch off the brick wall in right field that caromed almost all the way back to the infield, and he ended up at third base with an RBI triple. But the Brewers weren’t done: Willy Adames got a 1-0 sinker right down the middle at 91 miles per hour and hit it out to dead center field for a two-run homer that made it 3-0 to the Brewers.

Colin Rea came out for the bottom of the first looking to keep the Braves from answering, and though he gave up a leadoff single to Jorge Soler, he erased him when Austin Riley hit into a double play, and Marcell Ozuna flew out to center field. The Milwaukee offense was back on Elder in the second inning: Rhys Hoskins hit a hard ground ball that bounced off of third base and into the left field corner for a leadoff double. He moved to third on a Sal Frelick ground out and scored when Joey Ortiz blooped an RBI single over the drawn-in infield to make it 4-0 Milwaukee.

Atlanta was close to striking back in the bottom of the second when Matt Olson hit a leadoff double and moved to third on an Orlando Arcia groundout. Travis d’Arnaud hit a 104-mph grounder but it was right at Joey Ortiz, who held Olson while throwing d’Arnaud out, and Rea struck out Eddie Rosario to get out of the inning.

Milwaukee was at it again in the top of the third when Contreras walked with one out and scored on Adames’ second home run of the day, another one to straightaway center field. That gave the Brewers six runs through the first three innings, more than they’d scored in nine of their previous 12 games. Things were looking even better when Rea shut down the Braves in the bottom of the third by striking out the side in order.

Elder, who utterly shut down the Brewers last week, just could not fool anyone tonight. Frelick led off the fourth with a base hit to center, stole second, and scored two batters later on a single from Turang, who advanced to second on the throw home. The next batter, Chourio, scalded a ball but it was snagged by Austin Riley to save a run. Elder was pulled after he walked Mitchell with two outs, and Jesse Chavez retired Contreras to end the inning with Milwaukee up 7-0.

Rea had another inning in which he gave up a hit but faced only three batters after a double play ended the fourth. The Brewers didn’t score in the fifth off of Chavez, but Bauers got on base with a walk, Hoskins was robbed of a hit by Orlando Arcia on a 105-mph line drive, and Frelick nearly had an RBI double but Soler got to his liner into right to end the inning.

By the end of the fifth inning, Rea was becoming a real story. After another 1-2-3 inning with two more strikeouts, Rea was through five innings with just three hits and no walks allowed with seven strikeouts on only 59 pitches, and he was just one over the minimum thanks to a pair of double plays.

The Brewer offense was back at it in the top of the sixth. Ortiz led off with his second hit, Chourio joined the fun with his first, and with two outs, Contreras hit one over the head of the statuesque Soler in right field for a two-RBI double. An infield hit from Adames chased Chavez, who was replaced by Aaron Bummer; Bummer walked pinch-hitter Andruw Monasterio on four pitches to load the bases for Hoskins, who battled for eight pitches but ultimately grounded out.

Rea worked around a one-out single by Jarred Kelenic for another scoreless inning in the sixth. Bummer retired the Brewers in order in the top of the seventh—it was their first 1-2-3 inning of the game and just the second in which they didn’t score. Rea put two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh for the first time in the game—Olson’s second double, followed by an Arcia walk—but he struck out d’Arnaud and got Rosario on a flyout to end the inning. It was the end of a glorious night: Rea shut the Braves out for seven innings, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out a season-high nine batters.

The Brewer offense had one more go at the Braves in the top of the eighth. Chourio led off with a single and advanced to second when it was misfielded in center field, and after a Mitchell groundout, he scored on Contreras’s third extra-base hit of the game, a double that snuck by Riley at third. Things got weird after that—Adames hit a ball to deep center (which was close to his third homer of the game) but Kelenic appeared to catch it and drop it while transferring to his throwing hand, but a Brewers review overturned it as it turned out he dropped the ball while colliding with the wall. Unfortunately, the umpire’s discretion just put Adames at first (his fourth hit of the game!) and Contreras at third, and Monasterio hit a hard ground ball right at Arcia that turned into an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the eighth, we got an appearance from Joe Ross out of the bullpen, which gave us a glimpse into Pat Murphy’s possible plans over the next few weeks as Ross’ role as a starter seems to have been usurped by new additions Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas. Ross had to work a bit to get through the inning and gave up some hard contact, but he worked around a walk and a hit to send the game to the ninth.

Outfielder Luke Williams became pitcher Luke Williams in the top of the ninth, and, well, it was ugly but the Brewers failed to score despite loading the bases with nobody out. Ross stayed in for the ninth and had an easier time than he had in the previous inning, completing the combined shutout.

This type of game was exactly what the Brewers needed. Every player who came to the plate for Milwaukee reached base, and Turang, Chourio, Contreras, Adames, Hoskins, and Ortiz all had multiple hits. If the Brewers are going to survive the absence of Christian Yelich and continue to hold a lead in the division for the rest of the year, they’re going to need to be led by Adames and Contreras, and they did that job tonight: Adames was 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBI and Contreras was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, a walk, and four RBI. Rea was excellent on the bump in what was probably his best start of the year, and one of the best from anyone on the team this season.

Milwaukee will look to start a winning streak tomorrow, again at 6:20 p.m., when Freddy Peralta and Chris Sale face off in a big-name face-off for the second time in a week.