Logan Henderson needed only one shaky inning to keep the Brewers on track, and once Milwaukee’s offense found its rhythm, the rest of the night belonged to them.
The Braves struck first in the opening frame. Henderson opened by walking Drake Baldwin, then recovered with a four-pitch strikeout of Ronald Acuña Jr. and got Matt Olson to a 1-2 count before Olson drove a changeup into right field for a single.
Michael Harris II followed three pitches later with another changeup down the left-field line, bringing home Baldwin and moving Olson to third. With one out and runners on second and third, Henderson faced a real test, but he answered it by getting Ozzie Albies to pop out to third and Mauricio Dubón to line out to right, escaping with only one run allowed.
Milwaukee had traffic in the first, too, but not the hit to cash it in. Jackson Chourio drew a walk to start the inning, Brice Turang struck out, and William Contreras popped up foul. Jake Bauers kept the inning alive with an 11-pitch walk, but Andrew Vaughn ended it with another popout.
The Brewers finally cracked Martín Pérez in the third. Cooper Pratt reached when Pérez couldn’t handle a soft grounder back to the mound, and after Chourio and Turang each made outs, Contreras tied the game with a single into left.
Then came Bauers’ night-shifting at-bat, the kind that wears a pitcher down pitch by pitch. He worked the count full, then fouled off seven straight pitches - sinker, four-seamer, curveball, changeup, cutter, all of it - before Pérez went back to the four-seamer and Bauers jumped on it.
That blast, Bauers’ 23rd homer of the season, put Milwaukee ahead 3-1 and forced Pérez out after four innings and 97 pitches. Nearly a quarter of those pitches were thrown to Bauers alone. The Brewers added one more run in the fourth when Joey Ortiz doubled, Luis Lara singled and Pratt lifted a sacrifice fly, but the damage had already been done.
The bigger story was the pitching. Milwaukee held one of baseball’s best offenses to five hits and a single run for the second straight game, and Henderson was right in the middle of it.
After that first inning, he settled in and finished six innings with just three more hits allowed and four strikeouts, earning his eighth win of the season. Chad Patrick worked around a walk in a scoreless seventh, and DL Hall struck out two in a clean eighth.
Aaron Ashby handled the ninth after Trevor Megill had pitched the previous two games, and it got a little tense. He gave up singles to Albies and Dubón to start the inning, but then got the pinch-hitting Lane Thomas to fly out to left. Austin Riley followed by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.
Contreras also kept swinging a hot bat, finishing with two hits, including the RBI single and a double off the left-field wall. He’s now up to six hits in two games in this series.
In Other News...
Brewers Will See A Familiar Face In Atlanta For This One
The Braves added a familiar name to their roster for the matchup with Milwaukee, recalling outfielder Brewer Hicklen as the extra player for the Little League Classic. For Hicklen, a nine-year minor league veteran who reached the majors in 2022, the assignment carries a little more meaning than most. He grew up rooting for Atlanta, so getting a chance to suit up for his favorite team in a showcase setting gives the game an extra layer beyond the usual late-summer backdrop.
Atlanta could use the lift, too, with the club still searching for steadier footing. Hicklens arrival gives the Braves another option as they prepare to face a team he knows well, and the setting in Williamsport only adds to the unusual feel of the moment. For Milwaukee, it is the sort of twist that comes with baseball's calendar, a reminder that even a neutral-site event can bring a little personal history back into the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Luis Lara Is Becoming A Brewers Spark Fans Can Feel
The Brewers have kept rolling, winning six of their last seven and banking a series win over the Braves behind another strong outing from Jacob Misiorowski, who picked up his 13th victory after six scoreless innings. In a stretch where Milwaukee has found ways to win in a lot of different shapes, the defense has been part of the story too, and rookie outfielder Luis Lara has started to stand out as one of the players giving this team a little extra edge.
Laras key catch against Atlanta was the kind of play that fits what the Brewers saw in him long before his major league debut, when they locked him into a seven-year extension. He is still early in his big-league run, but the way he is already showing up in big moments gives Milwaukee another reason to like where this is headed, even as the bigger question is how much more of that spark he can keep providing as the games get tougher. [Read more 🡒]
DL Hall Is Giving Brewers A Bullpen Question They Need Answered
The Brewers have built a reputation for making difficult trade decisions before players reach the end of their control, a habit that only got more scrutiny after the Josh Hader deal changed the way the front office talked about roster timing. Corbin Burnes was the next major name to go, shipped to Baltimore in February 2024 for Joey Ortiz, DL Hall and a draft pick, and Hall has since become one of the more interesting pieces in that return.
Originally developed as a starter, Hall has been pushed into a bullpen role because of injuries, and the move has taken on real meaning in 2026 as his performance has improved. With salary arbitration eligibility getting closer, the Brewers now have to sort out whether he profiles as a long-term relief answer, a possible future trade chip or something in between, and that kind of decision tends to say as much about their roster direction as it does about the pitcher himself. [Read more 🡒]