Burnes, Albers get clobbered in 7th
A series that opened with a bullpen blowup by the Milwaukee Brewers closed in a disturbingly similar fashion Sunday afternoon.
Corbin Burnes allowed four runs while failing to record an out in the seventh inning and the San Francisco Giants scored twice more against Matt Albers to turn a tie game into a laugher the Brewers lost, 8-3, at Miller Park.
Christian Yelich’s homer off Tyler Beede to start the Milwaukee sixth tied the game at 2-2 and jolted the otherwise lifeless sellout crowd, which hadn’t seen a Brewers hit since the first inning.
The homer was the 32nd of the season for Yelich, giving him the majorleague lead again after Cody Bellinger tied him on Saturday, and his first since July 2 at Cincinnati. It was also Yelich’s first homer at home since June 21, a span of 10 games.
But the good feelings didn’t last long as the Giants quickly went to work on Burnes (1-5).
The trouble started with a Donovan Solano double, and he scored on a single by pitcher Tyler Beede, his second hit of the day. Brandon Belt followed with a single, and then former Brewer Stephen Vogt doubled to give make it 4-2 and chase Burnes amid a chorus of boos.
Albers came on to strike out Austin Slater and then put Pablo Sandoval on intentionally to load the bases and set up the double play. But Albers walked Brandon Crawford to force in another run, and a Kevin Pillar single made it 6-2.
Albers finally got the double-play grounder he was looking for from Mike Yastrzemski, but Tripp Gibson’s out call was overturned on replay challenge netting the Giants another run.
Solano then completed the onslaught he began with an RBI single. The Giants sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning and scored six runs, an ugly capper to a highly disappointing open to the second half.
Milwaukee finished 2-4 in its season series with San Francisco, which began the day tied for the second-fewest wins in the National League. The Brewers are 3-7 in July with a run of tough opponents upcoming.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Change in stance: Braun made some changes to his bat path in the offseason with the goal of improving his battedball profile after suffering some uncharacteristic hard luck in 2018 but his setup at the plate remained the same, hands cocked high behind his right ear.
After a first half in which he hit .271 with 12 homers and 40 runs batted in, Braun has tweaked his stance by bringing his hands down and laying his bat flatter over his back shoulder to get him into a better ‘ready’ position.
“Pre-setting the barrel flatter like that gets him behind the ball sooner for some bat path things that he worked hard on over the winter. It helps contribute to that,” hitting coach Andy Haines said. “It makes a lot of sense, and I give Brauny a lot of credit because he’s open to keep progressing and evolving despite his status and how good of a career he’s had.
“It is fun to watch, because it is helping him translate his (batting practice) to the game. Right away, we saw that. We’ve talked since spring training about his BP, how remarkable it’s been, and it’s been in flashes translated to the game, and in flashes not. Right away in the game, we both kind of looked at each other like, ‘I think you’re on to something here.’”
Rare air: With two stolen bases Saturday, Yelich joined Braun as just the second player in franchise history to record multiple 30-homer, 20-stolenbase seasons. Yelich has 31 homers and 21 steals a season after posting 36 and 22 en route to winning the National League’s most valuable player award.
Braun accomplished the feat three times, in 2009 (32-20), 2011 (33-33) and 2012 (41-30). Tommy Harper is the only other player in franchise history to record a 30-20 season; he put up a 31-38 campaign in 1970.
Plan for Gonzalez: Left-hander Gio Gonzalez will make his second minorleague rehab start on Monday for Class AAA San Antonio, with a goal of throwing 60 to 70 pitches. Manager Craig Counsell said Gonzalez might not need another in the minors.