On a day that started with so much bad news — Sal Frelick going on the IL, Brandon Woodruff needing surgery, and Brice Turang getting scratched — the Brewers still continue to plug along and win ballgames as they secured an 8-6 win over the Miami Marlins.
Shane Drohan was excellent once more, completing six innings for his third consecutive start. Drohan ended up with a career-high in strikeouts with nine. He started the day with three punchouts in the first inning and also struck out the side in the fifth.
Drohan did have to work around a little trouble in the second inning when the Marlins put on their best Milwaukee Brewers impression. They dropped in a medium-hit double, had two bunt singles, a hard-hit single, a fielder’s choice, and a sacrifice fly to put three runs on the board.
The Brewers had to scratch and claw their way back after that. It started in the bottom of the second, which began with a Garrett Mitchell single. He ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly from Braden Shewmake. Milwaukee would then scratch another run across in the third inning. Jackson Chourio led off the inning with a walk, then stole second base, before William Contreras ripped a double off the top of the wall to bring Chourio home.
That stolen base was just one of seven steals on the day for the Brewers.
“I’m glad to be on this side of it because when I was in Houston, we were worried about that, cause you run wild over here. High percentage, pick good times to run, and it puts a lot of pressure on defenses. So being on this side, it’s a lot more fun,” Braden Shewmake said.
Jackson Chourio stole two bases to get up to 10 steals on the year. Shewmake, Mitchell, Joey Ortiz, and Christian Yelich all had steals. Luis Lara also stole a base, the first of his young career. Lara had 24 stolen bases for Triple-A Nashville this year and had 40-plus each of the past two seasons.
The Brewers were still down by a run heading into the sixth inning. Shewmake led off the inning with a 110.4-mph double to right, which was followed by walks from Joey Ortiz and Christian Yelich. The bases were then loaded for Jackson Chourio, who immediately slapped a single to center to give the Brewers the lead.
A few batters later, Garrett Mitchell also delivered with a hustle double to bring home two more runs, and the Brewers were up 6-3.
They’d get some insurance that turned out to be very crucial in the seventh when Christian Yelich drove an opposite-field double that brought home two more runs to make it 8-3.
That would be much needed as Pat Murphy tried to squeeze a second inning out of Craig Yoho to get through the ninth without using another leverage arm. But Yoho put two runners on, then gave up a three-run blast to Griffin Conine, and the game was within two.
“You want to preserve somebody that hasn’t pitched yet. You know Yoho’s down tomorrow anyway, right? Regardless. One inning today, eight pitches, and he’s going good. He’s not pitching tomorrow anyway, so why use another guy?” Pat Murphy said.
Murphy had to turn to Megill anyway, and Megill shut down the three batters he faced, and the Brewers were able to secure an 8-6 win over the Marlins.
They have a chance to sweep the Marlins tomorrow with Robert Gasser on the mound. Eury Pérez will be pitching for Miami. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.
