Perfect blend
Pitching, timely hitting lead to sweep of O’s
The Milwaukee Brewers are getting a sublime mixture of effective pitching and opportunistic offense these days, with the usual results.
Completing an impressive three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, the first-place Brewers capped their final homestand of the first half Wednesday night with a 4-0 blanking at Miller Park.
The victory put the Brewers seven games over .500 (47-40), matching their high-water mark for the season (25-18 on May 19). It also allowed them to retain their 31⁄2-game lead atop the National League Central Division with four games remaining before the all-star break.
Right-hander Matt Garza escaped some early jams to turn in 6 1/3 scoreless innings,
completing a three-day bonanza for the Brewers’ starting rotation. Brent Suter, Jimmy Nelson and Garza combined to shackle the Orioles by allowing no earned runs over 20 1/3 innings.
Trying to avoid a sweep, the Orioles were forced to go with spot starter Jayson Aquino from the minors when Chris Tillman departed on paternity leave. Aquino held his own for the most part, allowing only three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, but that wasn’t good enough on this night.
Garza was forced to work hard to keep the Orioles off the board in the early going, but never more so than in the sec-
ond inning, when they loaded the bases with no outs on a double by Mark Trumbo, infield hit by Trey Mancini and walk to Welington Castillo.
Ruben Tejada took a called third strike, bringing up Aquino for his first major-league at-bat. He had no chance, also striking out, allowing Garza to escape by retiring Seth Smith on a fly to right field.
The Orioles then handed a run to the Brewers in the bottom of the inning. Travis Shaw led off with an opposite-field double and was still on second with two down when third baseman Manny Machado failed to backhand Keon Broxton’s bouncer, committing a run-scoring error.
It was still 1-0 when the Brewers scored three runs in the fourth, a rally that started with Ryan Braun’s double off the right-field wall. With one down, Domingo Santana bounced a single off the glove of diving shortstop Tejada, and Braun aggressively scored as the ball trickled into shallow left.
Aquino popped up Manny Piña, but Broxton crushed a first-pitch cutter out to left-center for his 14th home run and the Brewers had a 4-0 lead. Garza, who boosted his career record against Baltimore to 10-1, settled down nicely in the middle innings and the bullpen took it from there.
Corey Knebel took care of the ninth inning, extending his majorleague record to 41 consecutive appearances with at least one strikeout
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Starting with a makeup game Thursday in Chicago, the Brewers play 14 of their remaining 20 games in July on the road.
“I haven’t looked at it very closely,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We know where we have to go still. I know we haven’t been to Washington yet. I know we haven’t been to Philly yet. We haven’t been out West yet (to Los Angeles and San Francisco).
“I don’t care how you draw up the schedule, but it’s challenging. Every game is challenging, whether it’s here or on the road. We obviously like being here, but we’ll go on the road and play anyone.”
As for the makeup game in Chicago on what originally was an off-day, Counsell said, “Looking at this, there certainly could be worse things happening to us. We’re going to a place that’s really close, we are five days from the all-star break and teams have rainouts. I’ve seen a bunch of teams have to do this scenario. It generally involves a plane flight in the wrong direction, and we’re not doing that.”
STAT SHEET
When Orlando Arcia scored all the way from first base on pitcher Brent Suter’s infield hit Monday – with an over-slide of third base and a rundown escape to the plate — Suter joked afterward, “Did I get a RBI on that?” He was told no, but MLB changed that ruling Wednesday and Suter did get an RBI — his first in the majors.
Jonathan Villar did not take advantage of the playing time he got in the absence of Eric Sogard (ankle). Still leading off, Villar went 1 for 13 in the series with seven strikeouts.
TAKEAWAY
The Brewers did very little wrong in sweeping Baltimore and completing a 5-1 home stand. They completely outplayed the Orioles, outscoring them, 18-3. They have a full head of steam entering the final four games before the all-star break — one in Chicago and three in New York against the Yankees.
RECORD
This year: 47-40 (26-23 home; 21-17 away) Last year: 38-49
ATTENDANCE
Wednesday: 27,734 2017 total: 1,414,029 (28,858 avg.) Last year: 1,442,952 (29,448 avg.)
NEXT GAME
Thursday: Brewers at Cubs, 1:20 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Zach Davies (9-4, 5.03) vs. Chicago LHP Mike Montgomery (1-5, 2.80). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.