Rea in top form as Brewers complete sweep of Guardians

“Code Red” goes seven scoreless in the second-longest start of his career

Box Score

On Friday night, the Brewers got off to a quick early lead and held on for nine innings as they beat the Cleveland Guardians in the first game of this series. On Saturday, Milwaukee got out to a 1-0 lead in the first and ultimately won 2-1 in a nail-biter. This afternoon, the Brewers again handed their pitching staff a slim early lead, and that was all that Colin Rea and the bullpen would need in a victory that moved them to 20 games over .500.

Things started off well for Milwaukee. Rea worked an efficient 1-2-3 top of the first, and the suddenly-hot-again Brice Turang led off the bottom of the inning with a stand-up triple into the right field corner off of Cleveland starter Ben Lively. The Guardians drew in their infield and Jackson Chourio hit a ground ball right at second baseman Andrés Giménez and William Contreras popped out, and it looked as if the Brewers would let their early scoring opportunity go by. But Willy Adames wasn’t about to let that happen, and he knocked an RBI single into center to give Milwaukee an early lead.

After another three-up, three-down inning from Rea in the top of the second, the Brewers had something going again in the bottom of the inning because of aggressive offensive play. Sal Frelick knocked a solid single up the middle and the Brewers ran a hit-and-run that worked perfectly, as a little squibber from Joey Ortiz found its way through the new vacancy in the right side. After Ortiz stole second, Eric Haase hit an RBI groundout to short (a contact play that actually worked!) and the Brewers took a 2-0 lead.

Cleveland’s first baserunner came in the top of the third when Rea started the inning by hitting Jhonkensy Noel with a pitch. Daniel Schneemann flew out to fairly deep center, Noel was called out on a pickoff but it was overturned on a challenge, and Bo Naylor and Steven Kwan popped out, and Rea was out of it with no trouble.

In the bottom of the third, Chourio got hit on the hand by a pitch, making every fan watching the game hold their breath. He insisted upon staying in the game, but was erased from the basepaths when Contreras grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, and Adames struck out to end the frame.

Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth; Rea was through five innings at just one over the minimum, having allowed only the hit batter. That nearly changed on the first batter of the sixth inning when Frelick didn’t read a Schneeman fly ball very well off the bat, but he recovered and made what was a very nice catch (even if it was only hard due to his own mistake). The no-hit bid came to an end with two outs in the inning when Steven Kwan lined a single to left field for his first hit of the series, and Will Brennan followed that with a single of his own. Suddenly Rea, who’d been absolutely cruising, was facing José Ramírez as the go-ahead run, but he got him to pop out into foul territory and the Brewers maintained their two-run lead.

Lively, meanwhile, had settled in nicely since giving up runs in each of the first two frames, and that continued in the sixth as he threw his first perfect inning. Rea’s pitch count was still in good shape and he was back out for the seventh, and he retired the side in order on just eight pitches; he was at just 85 through seven, and a complete game was in play, though some insurance runs would certainly help.

Lively was done after six, but that just meant that Cleveland was handing the ball to their best-in-the-business bullpen. Hunter Gaddis was first up, and he got Frelick on a weak ground out and struck out Ortiz and Haase for a clean inning. Rea was indeed back out for the bottom of the eighth, just the second time he took a start into the eighth inning in his career.* But he hit Noel—barely, but again—and that was the end of his afternoon. Rea was replaced by Bryan Hudson (who hadn’t pitched since Thursday), who came in and struck out Tyler Freeman, got pinch-hitter David Fry to pop out behind second base, and got Kwan to ground out to third.

*The only other time Rea has taken a start into the eighth or later was on May 5, 2016, when he was a 25-year-old pitching for the San Diego Padres. He had a shutout through eight innings against the New York Mets, but he was pulled when Curtis Granderson (old friend!) led off the ninth with a solo homer. Brad Hand came in and walked David Wright and gave up another homer to Michael Conforto, but got the next two, and San Diego won 5-3. Jacob deGrom threw five innings for the Mets.

If the Brewers intended to add to their narrow two-run lead, they would have to do so against Emmanuel Clase, who is in the midst of a historically good season. (Seeing Clase only when ahead in this series counts as a best-case scenario.) Turang started off with a base knock to left, no small feat, as Clase has barely allowed a hit every other inning this season. But Chourio grounded into an easy double play, and Contreras grounded out, and they would have to get it done with their slim lead.

Devin Williams was not the person on the mound in the ninth. This wasn’t a shock, as he had pitched on three of the last four days before today’s game, and the team is certainly trying to manage his load. It wasn’t Hudson, either, in the ninth; he was replaced by Jared Koenig, owner of zero career major league saves, and he’d have to go through the 2-3-4 hitters in the Guardians’ order to get there. Freeman nearly reached on an infield single, but Turang just got him by a footstep. That took a little pressure off of Koenig’s matchup with MVP candidate Ramírez, who popped out to short, and Koenig finished off the Guardians when Josh Naylor flew out to foul territory in left.

The Brewer pitching staff deserves a ton of credit over the last two days, as they held Cleveland—who came into the series with the AL’s best record—to one run in two games, and propped up an offense that found it difficult to score against Cleveland’s own good pitchers. It should be noted that it could’ve been one run over the entire series if not for one rough inning from Bryse Wilson on Friday night.

Rea turned in one of the best starts of his career: 5 ²⁄₃ no-hit innings, seven total, with just two hits, two HBP, and no walks with five strikeouts. Turang led the offensive charge today, with a triple, a single, a walk, and a run scored. He was the only Brewer with more than one hit and his triple was their only extra-base hit.

Suddenly, Milwaukee has won five in a row against two of the best teams in baseball and 10 of their last 13. They will get a day off tomorrow with a double-digit lead in the division and they’re within a half-game of the Dodgers for a potential first-round bye in playoff positioning. It feels like it came out of nowhere but they’re only a game back of the Phillies and Yankees for the best record in baseball. Without Christian Yelich, or Brandon Woodruff, or Wade Miley, or Devin Williams for most of the season. Without Corbin Burnes or Craig Counsell. There’s still a ways to go, but this has been one of the more surprising Brewers teams in a decade full of surprising Brewers teams.

The Crew gets the day off Monday before heading to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals.