The Brewers don’t win this game without Joey Ortiz and Christian Yelich. Ortiz went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, a walk, two runs scored, and two RBI, while Yelich finished 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI. Together, they accounted for five of the Brewers’ nine hits and all four of Milwaukee’s RBI as the Brewers held on for a 4-3 win in today’s series finale against the New York Mets.
Logan Henderson struck out three in a scoreless top of the first inning, and Mets starter Christian Scott kept the Brewers off the board in the bottom of the frame. Marcus Semien broke the tie in the top of the second with a solo home run on a four-seamer that ran just a little too far over the plate.
The Brewers were shut out yesterday, but their offense didn’t take long to come to life today. In the bottom of the second, Garrett Mitchell led off with a walk and Andrew Vaughn advanced him to third with a single. Jake Bauers popped up and Cooper Pratt struck out in what were Milwaukee’s first two opportunities with runners in scoring position, but Ortiz delivered with two outs, sending a fly ball over the head of Brett Baty in right field.
Baty probably should have made the catch, but he took a bad route to the ball. He ran almost straight back on a fly ball that landed about fifteen feet closer to the foul pole than he anticipated. He adjusted at the last second, veering to his left, but couldn’t quite get there as the ball bounced off the warning track. Ortiz made it around to third for a triple as Mitchell and Vaughn both scored, giving the Brewers a 2-1 lead.
Up next was Christian Yelich, who came through with a line drive single into left field to score Ortiz. All of a sudden, Milwaukee was up 3-1 — and hitting .500 with runners in scoring position.
Henderson allowed just one more hit until the top of the fifth, when Baty hit a solo home run to cut the Mets’ deficit back down to one run. The Brewers couldn’t answer in the fifth, but they did in the sixth. Joey Ortiz grounded a ball past third base that got stuck under the tarp along the third-base line. Ortiz came all the way around to score before being sent back to second on the ground-rule double.
Ortiz wouldn’t be on the bases for long, as the very next hitter — Yelich — crushed a line drive off the center field wall for a triple. Ortiz scored to widen the Brewers’ lead back to two runs.
Henderson exited after five innings, allowing two runs on two home runs while giving up just three other hits. He struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter. As Pat Murphy said in his postgame press conference, “I’ve seen him better,” but if two runs and nine strikeouts is room for improvement, I’ll take it.
Aaron Ashby tossed two hitless innings in relief, striking out four and walking a batter, and Abner Uribe worked around a pair of hits in a scoreless eighth. Trevor Megill came in for the top of the ninth and had a sketchier outing than Brewers fans have become accustomed to lately. He walked Tyrone Taylor to start the frame, who then advanced to second on a groundout from Semien. Luis Torrens then crushed a line drive into right field, but it was right at Luis Lara, who took care of it for the second out.
With the Mets down to their final out, catcher Francisco Alvarez grounded a single into left field to score Taylor. Rather than risking a throw home, Jackson Chourio threw behind Alvarez, keeping the tying run at first base.
A.J. Ewing then hit a ground ball to the left side that probably would have been a hit had the Brewers’ third baseman not been Joey Ortiz:
Despite allowing a run for the first time in his last fourteen appearances, Megill came away with the save and the Brewers came away with the series win. After taking two of three from the Mets, the Brewers will get tomorrow off before welcoming the Rockies to American Family Field for their third straight three-game home set. First pitch for Friday’s series opener is set for 3:10 p.m.
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