Brewer avoid home sweep...again

The Brewers salvaged the final game of the series against the Minnesota Twins with a resounding 16-4 victory. The team looked to carry that momentum into their series with the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, the Brewer’s offense returned to its woeful ways in the game one of the series. Madison Bumgarner handcuffed the Brewers for the first eight innings of the game. The Giant’s right hander allowed one run through the first seven innings and took a 3-1 lead into the eighth. Bumgarner then struck out the first two hitters he faced before Norichika Aoki was safe at first on an error by shortstop Brandon Crawford. The next hitter, Ryan Braun, crushed a two-run home run to deep left field that tied the score at three. Both bullpens did an excellent job of holding the opponent’s hitters scoreless in the extra innings. For the Brewers, Manny Parra and Jose Veras each pitched two perfect innings and four Giant’s relievers shut down the Brewers. Hector Sanchez then led off the 14th inning with a home run to left center off of Brewer reliever Juan Perez. It was the first Giant’s run since Buster Posey’s three-run home run off of Randy Wolf in the first inning. Santiago Casilla retired the Brewers in the bottom of the 14 th to end the marathon game.

In the second game of the series, the Brewers faced a tough test in the form of Matt Cain, who came into the game with a sub-3.00 ERA. The Brewer managed to collect eleven hits off of Cain. That total was the most hits that the Giant’s right hander had given up all season. However, those eleven hits would only lead to four runs as the Brewers were 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Rickie Weeks drove in two of those runs with a booming double to left center field. The extra-base hit was a positive sign for the slumping Weeks, who also struck out three times.

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For the Brewers, Shaun Marcum labored through six innings. Marcum allowed six runs on five hits with the biggest blows coming on home runs by Jaquin Arias and Buster Posey. Posey’s home run was his sixth in as many games at Miller Park. With the 6-4 loss, the Brewers lost their second consecutive home series and would once again be playing in the final game of a series hoping to avoid being swept.

Fans that were late getting coming from the parking lots missed most of game three’s fireworks. The Brewers batted around in the bottom of the first inning. The Giants committed two errors and Brewer starter Marco Estrada’s RBI double led to two of the six runs that the Brewers scored in the opening inning. On that play, Estrada strained his right hip flexor and was forced to leave the game. The Brewer bullpen, already taxed from the previous two games, would be called upon to hold the lead. Fortunately, Jonathon Lucroy would add to that lead on the bottom of second. Lucroy belted two-run home run extend the Brewer lead to 8-0. Lucroy continues to be among the hottest hitters in all of baseball as Brewer catcher also doubled and raised his batting average to .349.

Manny Parra was the first reliever out of the gates. Parra allowed three runs on four hits in two innings before giving way to Kameron Loe. Loe gave up another two runs in his two inning of work. With the score now 8-5, Jose Veras pitched flawlessly in the sixth and seventh innings to set the stage for Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford. Rodriguez pitched a scoreless eighth and Axford recorded his seventh save to preserve the Brewer victory. The six Brewer pitchers totaled fifteen strikeouts to help the team avoid a sweep.

By: Scott Kasten
MLBCenter.com Staff Writer

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