Offensive bombardment carries Brewers in 9-2 win

Three Brewers homer as Crew avoids sweep

Box Score

The Brewers assembled yet another victory testifying to their strengths as a roster with a convincing 9-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In this series finale, there was a pivotal figure in Christian Yelich’s 3-for-4 performance, but the entire team combined to leave Los Angeles with an encouraging win against one of the best teams in baseball.

The Brewers have had a great season when establishing an early lead, and they did just that. Yelich opened the night’s action with a two-run home run in the fourth inning, with Eric Haase following in the next inning with his first home run of the season.

That power surge was enough to set the Brewers ahead in the early going, but despite the Dodgers only scoring two runs in this game, it looked like a closer affair for much of the evening. Starter Dallas Keuchel grinded through 4 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings, but it was a difficult route to that finish. He allowed just three hits, but five walks left the Dodgers constantly on the edge of eliminating the Brewers’ early lead.

Both Keuchel and the relief corps, however, did an excellent job of escaping those tight situations. Los Angeles was held to a 1-for-9 performance with runners in scoring position.

One of the most controversial situations came in the bottom of the third inning after Shohei Ohtani registered the Dodgers’ first hit of the afternoon. On an attempt to steal second base, the batter, Will Smith, was ruled out on catcher interference when Eric Haase made the attempt to throw to second base.

Ohtani ended up stealing second base anyway, followed by Freddie Freeman taking a walk. Keuchel surrendered another walk to Teoscar Hernández to load the bases when that crucial out on the interference call came back into play. A flyout from Andy Pages would have scored a run but instead saw Keuchel escape the inning without any repercussions.

The Brewers put together another showing on the bases themselves with Chourio and Turang both nabbing bases. There was a significant error on the basepaths, though, when Blake Perkins got caught on a catcher pickoff to second base when he took too large of a secondary lead. It was a frustrating moment after Perkins was gifted the chance to be in scoring position after singling on a bunt, followed by a throwing error from rookie pitcher Justin Wrobleski.

That misplay on the bases can now be easily overlooked after Perkins made sure to redeem himself — multiple times. Perkins was 3-for-5 on the night, including a home run in the seventh inning that initiated a sequence of five unanswered runs for the Brewers over the final three innings, with the first three all coming from Perkins. His two-run, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning saw the lead climb to 7-2.

Yelich was able to expand that lead in the ninth inning with another double, capping his excellent game. Haase had reached on a single but hustled to round the bases on Yelich’s hit as Haase shows just why the Brewers were so tempted to put him on the Opening Day roster.

With an 8-2 lead, Garrett Mitchell tacked on another run on an opposite-field hit that slinked inside the foul line. The performance was a resounding encouragement for the Brewers who can now return home to prepare for a home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers tallied 12 hits in this game while shutting down the Dodgers top four hitters, holding Ohtani, Smith, Freeman, and Hernández to a collective 3-for-15.

It might not have been the best series for Milwaukee, but they still hold a sizeable lead in their division with a chance to grow their lead heading into the All-Star break. They’ll welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to American Family Field beginning Tuesday before closing out the first half against the Nationals at home. The first game of the Pirates series will be on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. Colin Rea is slated to start for Milwaukee with Pittsburgh still listed as TBD.