Mad dash home puts end to losing streak
Sogard scores on Adleman’s wild pitch in 10th to stop 6-game skid
This is what it took to end the losing, and the Milwaukee Brewers had no complaints.
With the home team in desperate need of a feel-good moment, Cincinnati reliever Tim Adleman uncorked a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and the bases loaded Saturday night at Miller Park. And on a 0-2 pitch to Ryan Braun, no less.
Eric Sogard scooted home, sliding in headfirst ahead of the tag to give the Brewers a 6-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Brewers had lost six in a row for the second time since the all-star break and were 9-18 overall during that stretch, going from 5 1/2 games on top in the NL Central to three games out and tied for third. A slumbering offense had broken through for 10 runs the previous evening, only to lose, 11-10.
Brewers starter Brent Suter put down the first two batters of the game before hitting a pothole in the road. Joey Votto walked and Adam Duvall jumped on a two-strike pitch
and drove it out to left for a two-run homer.
Suter walked the next two hitters before finally getting out of the inning, having thrown 38 pitches.
But Reds starter Scott Feldman also had issues in the first. Jonathan Villar led off with an opposite-field double over Duvall in left. With two down, Ryan Braun walked and Travis Shaw crushed a 3-1 cutter out to right for a three-run homer that put the Brewers on top, 3-2.
Not only did Duvall deliver the Reds’ first two runs, he helped prevent the Brewers from scoring one in the third. Eric Thames tried to score from second base on Domingo Santana’s twoout single to left but Duvall threw him out, with catcher Devin Mesoraco making a nice play on the other end.
The long ball continued to hurt Suter as the Reds went back on top. No 8 hitter Patrick Kivlehan lined a two-run shot off the leftfield foul pole with two down in the fourth, and Zack Cozart ripped an opposite-field shot to rightcenter with one down in the fifth to make it 5-3.
Suter exited after that inning, having allowed the three homers and five runs. In his first five starts after taking over for injured Chase Anderson in the rotation, Suter posted a 1.50 earned run average. In three starts since, he has an 8.16 ERA.
Feldman, who had just returned from the disabled list, was lifted after four innings and replaced by Kevin Shackelford. With one down in the fifth, Ryan Braun drilled a home run to center, his 40th career blast against the Reds, to make it a onerun game.
In the sixth, Eric Thames did what he always seems to do against Cincinnati – hit a home run. He blasted a two-out, opposite-field shot to left to make it a 5-5 game and make him the first Brewers player ever to hit 10 home runs in a season against one team. BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
C Stephen Vogt (sprained knee) caught five innings in his second rehab game for Class A Wisconsin. He threw out two runners and went 1for-3 with a RBI double.
Shaw had an at-bat in the fifth that brought tears to your eyes. He fouled one pitch off the top of his right foot and had to be attended to by athletic trainer Dan Wright. Two pitches later, he smoked a ball off his left leg, just below the knee and went down to the ground for some time, again attended to by Wright. Shaw completed the painful at-bat by striking out. STAT SHEET
Shaw (25) and Thames (27) are only the third left-handed duo in Brewers history with at least 25 home runs each in a season. The others were Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie (in both 1980 and 1982), and Geoff Jenkins and Jeromy Burnitz (2000). TAKEAWAY
The Brewers couldn't afford a second straight defeat to the last-place Reds, especially after finally breaking through for 10 runs the previous evening and still losing. And walk-off victories always feel special. RECORD
This year: 60-59 (32-30 home; 28-29 away)
Last year: 52-67 ATTENDANCE
Saturday: 38,256
NEXT GAME
Sunday: Brewers vs. Reds, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Matt Garza (5-6, 4.34) vs. Cincinnati RHP Sal Romano (2-4, 5.35) TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.