The Brewers didn’t exactly coast into Wednesday night after locking up their fourth straight NL Central title. Instead, they went right back to work and found another one of those stubborn, grind-it-out wins that have defined so much of their season.
This one had some turbulence. Logan Henderson wasn’t as sharp as usual, the bullpen gave up a lead, and Milwaukee still walked away with a 5-4 victory over the Pirates, continuing its push toward the league’s best record.
The early innings belonged to the starters. Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones came out firing, striking out Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio and Jake Bauers in order to open the game. Henderson, meanwhile, worked around a leadoff single by Konnor Griffin in the first, with Griffin getting thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.
Milwaukee broke through in the second with the kind of rally this club seems to specialize in. After Jones retired William Contreras and Christian Yelich to start the inning, Joey Ortiz, Luis Lara, Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Pratt stacked four straight singles. The last two knocked in runs, and just like that, the Brewers had a 2-0 lead.
Pittsburgh had a chance to answer in the bottom of the frame. Ryan O’Hearn and Ronny Simon singled after Henderson struck out the first two hitters of the inning, but O’Hearn was stranded at third and Jacob Gonzalez flied out to end the threat.
For a while after that, the game settled in. Then Oneil Cruz changed the mood with one swing in the bottom of the fourth, launching a homer that left the bat at 113 mph and cut into the Brewers’ lead. Milwaukee answered right back in the top of the fifth, when Pratt led off with a single, stole second and scored on Brice Turang’s double to make it 3-1.
Henderson’s night got a little shakier in the fifth. With two outs, Griffin doubled and Brandon Lowe followed with a two-run homer to tie the game. It was only the third time all season Henderson had allowed three runs.
The bullpens took over in the sixth, and the Pirates grabbed their first lead of the night when Rafael Flores Jr. homered off JoJo Romero. But Milwaukee didn’t flinch.
In the seventh, Turang walked, Chourio singled and Bauers walked to load the bases with nobody out. Contreras produced a fielder’s choice for the first out, then Christian Yelich came through with the biggest swing of the night, lining a single past Jared Triolo and down the left-field line. Two runs scored, and the Brewers were back in front, 5-4.
From there, Milwaukee’s relief corps did enough to finish the job. In the seventh, after a leadoff single and another hit later in the inning, Shane Drohan got Bryan Reynolds to roll into a 4-3 double play. In the eighth, after Cruz singled to start the inning, Uribe came on and turned another double play, this one off Flores, to wipe out the Pirates’ momentum.
The Brewers didn’t add any insurance in the eighth or ninth, but Trevor Megill didn’t need it. He shut it down in the ninth with strikeout, strikeout, groundout.
Offensively, it wasn’t a one-man show, but Pratt stood out with two singles. Milwaukee finished with 10 hits, and every starter recorded at least one. That balanced effort, plus the timely swings, was enough to support Henderson even on a night when he wasn’t at his best.
The Brewers have already checked off plenty this season, but they’re not done. They’ll go for the sweep Thursday morning with Kyle Harrison on the mound at 11:35 a.m. CT.
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The rest of the group gives the Brewers even more reason to pay attention, with Ryan Birchard, Miqueas Mercedes, Jose Meneses and Josh Quezada also earning assignments. The Fall League has long been a proving ground for players on the brink of bigger roles, so the names Milwaukee chose to send say plenty about where the club sees upside, depth and the prospects worth investing more time in this fall. [Read more 🡒]