DL Hall twirls best career start as offense erupts for doubleheader sweep

Hall’s seven shutout innings highlights doubleheader

Box Score – Game 1

Box Score – Game 2

A doubleheader with extra-innings action, a 10-run inning, and DL Hall’s career-best start?

Yep, that sounds pretty good.

Game 2

The Brewers swept their doubleheader against the Reds on Friday with no shortage of impact performances. Perhaps the most tantalizing was from starter DL Hall in the second game, pitching seven shutout innings in his best start as a Brewer.

After the Brewers’ tight victory to begin the day, they headed into game two with Hall set to make his first MLB start in over two weeks. He not only provided useful innings for a doubleheader, but he cruised to his lengthiest professional outing. He was efficient and displayed improved command as he put together one of his most brilliant performances.

One of the most interesting stats from his night was that he pitched three separate innings with fewer than 10 pitches. That’s wild! For a pitcher who had allowed at least two walks in four of his five starts to begin the year, his efficiency was a key part of his dominant night. He only allowed five baserunners, including just one walk, while getting five strikeouts.

Hall’s fastball seemed like it was particularly useful for the lefty tonight. In the first inning, he dotted the bottom-inside corner against Elly De La Cruz with a fastball to set up a front-door slider to get the strikeout.

Besides Hall’s sterling start, the offense lit up the Reds’ pitching staff in nearly all regards to clean up the second game of the doubleheader. Reds’ rookie Rhett Lowder only went four innings in his debut as the Brewers worked deep counts and put pressure on the youngster from the start. Brice Turang was a key cog in the machine, working two full-count walks and stealing two bases in his first two plate appearances.

While they made Lowder work for every inch, they only scored one run off of him. In the fourth inning, Garrett Mitchell worked a walk and stole second base to set up Sal Frelick’s RBI single.

The floodgates opened once Milwaukee forced the Reds to call to their bullpen. Mitchell was front and center once again with one of his best games this year. He launched a solo home run in the sixth, already having homered yesterday.

Rhys Hoskins broke out of his own slump with a two-run homer in the seventh to make it a 4-0 lead.

The rest of the game was, well, uncompetitive.

Among the completely unnecessary and merciless scoring was another three-run home run for Willy Adames (while the Reds were still using actual pitchers) and 10 runs in the ninth inning. That included five hits that are available for perusal in the box score before William Conteras slapped another two-run homer to right field. A casual 14-0 lead seemed to wrap up the game nice and easy.

With the echoes of Reds fans booing the Brewers for putting up such a crooked number against a position player, let’s go back to the series opener.

*Game 1*

It was a rather inoffensive start from Colin Rea. He went just four innings, but the temperature was reportedly about 100 degrees, so it’s not necessarily an indictment on his poor performance. He allowed four runs throughout his body of work, but only three were earned. He tallied up five strikeouts on just eight whiffs. It wasn’t great or awful, but it was fairly close to being a solid start. He gave up two home runs, but despite being in a hitter-friendly park, it wasn’t just the ballpark’s fault. According to Baseball Savant, those homers would have been gone in all 30 ballparks.

For this lineup, a four-run outing from the starter is far from a finishing blow. It might even be expected for the Brewers to cast such a small deficit aside at this point.

The Brewers never fell far behind. Willy Adames hit a solo home run to tie the game in the second inning at 1-1. He crushed an inside sinker against starter Nick Martinez for the Brewers’ first of 11 hits in the game.

The Brewers seemed close to manufacturing more runs throughout the heart of the game, but the Reds put on an impressive display of defense in a game filled with entertaining moments.

In the third inning, Jackson Chourio doubled before Hoskins sent a ball deep to center field. Outfielder TJ Friedl was able to make a jumping grab to save a potential home run.

So, the Brewers were sent back to the drawing board. Conteras made sure that didn’t delay them very long. In the next inning, he led off with a solo home run to spark a rally.

Adames and Mitchell combined for back-to-back hits as Frelick hit a two-RBI single (yes, with two outs, if that’s important). That momentarily gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead.

Rea pitched into the fifth inning, but upon giving up a leadoff home run to Jonathan India, the Brewers went to the bullpen. That was the lock the Reds simply couldn’t break. Five relievers pitched six scoreless innings, punctuated by Devin Williams earning his seventh save of the season.

As for the Brewers, they were stifled by Cincinnati’s reliever corps until extra innings, but Turang came through with a pinch-hit bunt to move the ghost runner to third base. Frelick grounded out into a double play, but it was enough to push the runner home.

It was a neck-and-neck contest as both teams pulled off unexpected defensive plays. One enjoyable moment, despite it leading to an out, was when Turang chopped a grounder to De La Cruz. Two of the fastest players in baseball racing it out as De La Cruz managed to complete the max-effort play.

One of the most crucial defensive plays came in the bottom of the eighth, the game tied at 4-4. Ty France launched a deep ball off the outfield wall, but Mitchell gunned him down at second base on what seemed like an easy double.

On a day when the team scores 19 runs across two wins, there are plenty of players deserving attention, but Mitchell’s offensive and defensive showcase is worthy of extra mention. He went 4-for-7 with a walk while hitting a double, a triple, and a home run.

The Brewers will hang around for two more games the next two days. Frankie Montas makes his return to Cincinnati against Fernando Cruz for the Reds. First pitch is at 6:15 p.m. on Fox.