The Brewers did what they usually do Friday night: jumped out in front, put pressure on the other side and looked like they had the game right where they wanted it. Then everything flipped.
Milwaukee scored four runs by the second inning against the Twins, a kind of cushion that normally plays beautifully with a pitching staff carrying one of the best marks in baseball. But the lead didn’t last, and Shane Drohan’s roughest outing as a Brewer helped turn the opener at American Family Field into an 8-6 Minnesota win.
“Score six runs, we usually win it,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We didn’t come up with the big hit.”
The early offense came in the exact order Milwaukee wanted. Jackson Chourio opened with a solo homer in the first, and Brice Turang followed in the second with a two-run double after the Brewers had already built their advantage. With Milwaukee entering the night at a 3.44 ERA, second in the Majors behind the Yankees, it looked like the Brewers had enough on the board already.
Drohan, though, never found his rhythm. In the third, he left a sinker over the plate to Josh Bell, who hammered it a Statcast-projected 406 feet for a two-run homer. The trouble deepened in the fourth, when Drohan allowed a walk and three hits, including a solo shot by Twins rookie Kaelen Culpepper, the first hit of his MLB career.
“It wasn't my night,” Drohan said. “I think there’s definitely areas to improve.
The sinker command just hasn't been good. A lot of times, when I am trying to go in, it's running too much back over the plate.
But that's how the game can be if you're not doing things that you're supposed to.”
The fifth inning made the whole night feel even stranger. Minnesota opened the frame with four straight softly hit singles, and Ryan Kreidler added a bunt back to Drohan that the left-hander couldn’t handle after seeming to stumble off the mound. Two more runs came across before the Brewers could stop the damage.
“That whole fifth inning was the wild one,” Drohan said. “Almost every ball that was put in play was weakly hit. I was beating guys with cutters on their hands, and they were just finding holes.”
When it was over, Drohan had set career highs in earned runs with six and hits with nine, and he walked four for the first time since his MLB debut on April 8.
“They hit him hard,” Murphy said. “He gave up [nine] hits, that's unusual.
A couple homers, missed some spots, slider wasn't as effective. That's unusual for him.”
Milwaukee answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie it at 6, but the tie didn’t hold. Antonio Senzatela, making his first appearance since being acquired in a trade with the Rockies, got the first two outs of the sixth before Minnesota strung together three straight hits to take an 8-6 lead. The Twins kept it there the rest of the way.
For the Brewers, the loss stood out because of how rarely their pitching staff has been touched up lately. Milwaukee hadn’t allowed more than four runs in a game since July 29, and it had given up more than five runs only four times since July 3.
Drohan’s stumble also came against the backdrop of a strong recent run. The rookie left-hander had gone at least six innings in each of his previous five starts, with four quality starts in that span. That stretch helped keep Milwaukee on a six-man rotation even after Kyle Harrison returned from the injured list and the club added Dustin May at the Deadline.
Murphy said after the game that the Brewers will stay with that setup for now, even though it means carrying one less bullpen arm during a stretch of 17 games in 17 days.
And despite the rocky night, Murphy made it clear Drohan’s place in the rotation isn’t in danger.
“He’s thrown the ball great for us,” Murphy said. “If you had to pick four guys from the July timeframe, this guy would be one of the four on everybody’s ballot. He’s put us in this position.”
In Other News...
Tyrone Taylor Just Reopened A Brewers Debate Fans Hate Hearing
Tyrone Taylors name still carries a little extra weight in Milwaukee, and for good reason. After five years with the Brewers, he was dealt from the Mets to the Cubs in the same move that sent Clay Holmes to Chicago and brought top prospect Jefferson Rojas into the conversation, instantly dropping a familiar face into one of baseballs most uncomfortable rivalries for Brewers fans. Taylor also knows exactly how much this matchup can seep into the atmosphere at American Family Field, where Cubs supporters show up in enough numbers to turn a home game into something closer to a split crowd.
That is what makes his latest comments land with a little more sting for Brewers followers who already dislike hearing about the Cubs in any context. The rivalry has long been one of the most charged in the division, and Taylor has seen enough of both sides to talk about it with some perspective. His history against Chicago only adds another layer, because when a player with Milwaukee roots starts revisiting that matchup, it tends to reopen the same old debate about just how much the Cubs still loom over the Brewers season. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Fans Just Got A New Reason To Watch The Farm
The Brewers farm system gave fans a little bit of everything in the latest round of minor league action, with several affiliates offering reasons to keep tabs on the pipeline. Braylon Payne continued to stand out as one of the systems more intriguing young bats, while Ryan Birchards pitching drew attention and Daniel Dickinson showed progress on the defensive side, the kind of day-to-day development that can matter as much as any box score result for an organization trying to build depth.
There was also some movement worth watching, with Brandon Sproat making his Nashville debut as the roster shuffle kept the upper levels in motion. For Brewers followers, the appeal is less about any single game and more about the larger picture taking shape across the affiliates, where promising talent and incremental progress are beginning to stack up in ways that could eventually matter in Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Suddenly Have A Shortstop Problem They Didnt Want
The Brewers shortstop depth got tested in a hurry after rookie Cooper Pratt was forced onto the 10-day injured list with a hamstring issue. Pratt had been giving Milwaukee a lift since his MLB debut, which made his sudden absence especially frustrating for a club that has been leaning on young infield help and trying to keep its roster moving without much margin for error.
Milwaukee responded by bringing in utility man Jihwan Bae on a Minor League contract and getting him onto the active roster to fill the gap. Bae had recently been in Triple-A Syracuse after time in the Pirates and Mets organizations, giving the Brewers a quick-stop option while they wait to see how long Pratt is out and whether the rookie can regain the form that had earned him a bigger look. [Read more 🡒]