Offense, pitching double the fun
It’s tough to guess which the Milwaukee Brewers were more excited about Friday night -- their offense continuing to hit on all cylinders or starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacín turning in his best start to date.
Home runs on consecutive pitches by Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw sparked a five-run fourth inning, and Chacín tossed six shutout innings as the Brewers won their season-high fourth straight game with an 8-0 blanking of the Miami Marlins at Miller Park.
Milwaukee scored once in the opening inning against Miami starter Trevor Richards, setting the tone by drawing three of the team’s seasonhigh eight walks. The Brewers then broke the game open in the fourth, with a two-out walk drawn by Lorenzo Cain starting the rally.
Christian Yelich tripled in Cain and then Braun and Shaw homered as Richards was eventually chased from the game. The Brewers scored their fifth run in the frame on a wild pitch, then added two more in the sixth on RBI singles by Shaw and Orlando Arcia.
Milwaukee has now outscored Miami, 20-3, in the first two games of the
series and has posted shutouts in three of its last four games.
The Brewers also have won consecutive games by eight or more runs for the first time since July 31-Aug. 1, 2012 and scored at least eight runs in consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 13-15 of last season (two games).
Chacín (1-0), meanwhile, overcame a shaky opening inning to blank the Marlins over six innings — the longest of his five starts for the Brewers.
He scattered four singles and three walks and tied a season high with five strikeouts over his 102-pitch outing.
The game ended on a down note for the Brewers, however, as Arcia had to be helped off the field after jamming his ankle sliding back into first base after an eighth-inning single.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
IMPRESSIVE COMPANY: Ryan Braun’s three-run, pinch-hit homer Thursday gave him 1,000 runs batted in for his career, making him one of 10 active players to reach the milestone. Albert Pujols (1,928), Adrián Beltré (1,647), Miguel Cabrera (1,623), Matt Holliday (1,217), Robinson Cano (1,189), Adrián González (1,187), Victor Martinez (1,133), Edwin Encarnacion (1,054) and Chase Utley (1,019) are the others.
TAKE YOUR TIME: The first inning crawled by. After Chacín needed 27 pitches to dispatch the Marlins, Richards was forced to throw 39 as the Brewers grabbed a 1-0 lead against the right-hander. There were four total walks issued, with Richards responsible for three. His third, to Eric Thames, forced in the run before Jonathan Villar struck out and Arcia flew out.
IT’S BEEN A WHILE: Yelich’s fourthinning triple was the Brewers’ first of the season. It came in their 21st game, making it the third-longest they’ve gone without one to start a season. They hit their first in their 22nd game in both 1970 and 2016. .
A COMMON THEME: Three times the Brewers have hit back-to-back homers this season, and all three times Braun has been involved. Yelich and Braun were the first to do it April 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Braun and Arcia next turned the trick Thursday night before Braun and Shaw went deep on the first pitches they saw from Richards. The Brewers hadn’t homered on consecutive first pitches since Sept. 1, 2014, when Khris Davis and Gerardo Parra did so at Wrigley Field.
BAD NEWS: The Brewers have had some bad luck with key players sliding back into first base the past few seasons. Last year it was Jimmy Nelson who tore up his pitching shoulder diving head-first back into the bag at Wrigley Field. The team can only hope that Arcia sprained his ankle and nothing worse in the eighth inning. After he singled to right and Thames was held up rounding third, catcher J.T. Realmuto fired down to first to nab Arcia, who’d taken a wide turn. Arcia went back in feet-first and appeared to roll his ankle, and had to be helped off the field while putting no weight on his leg.
RECORD
This year: 12-9. Last year: 10-11.
ATTENDANCE
Friday: 28,233
This year: 387,193 (32,266 avg.) Last year: 356,275 (29,690 avg.)
COMING UP
Saturday: Brewers vs. Marlins, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee LHP Brent Suter (1-2, 4.87) vs. Miami RHP José Ureña (0-3, 5.57). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.