A mostly forgettable game for Milwaukee
HOUSTON – Willy Adames’ fly ball carried deep into the heart of Texas. Just not deep enough.
The Milwaukee Brewers walked into Minute Maid Park on Sunday morning still riding the high of one of their better victories of the season the night before — a win highlighted by William Contreras’ epic go-ahead three-run homer off future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander — and looking to take the series with the Houston Astros.
After an afternoon of mostly mundane play for six innings, Adames nearly provided another memorable threerun shot.
The Brewers shortstop took a mighty hack at a Bryan Abreu fastball over the heart of the plate and drove it 399 feet on a line to center field. It would have been a home run in 16 of 30 MLB ballparks, but not in Houston.
The ball landed safely in the glove of centerfielder Jake Meyers and the Astros survived the seventh-inning rally by the Brewers, a brief reprieve from a cacophony of frustration for the visitors, and stepped on the gas pedal once again for a 9-4 win.
“I didn’t think it was going out, but he crushed it,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
Perhaps most notable from one of the more forgettable games of the year for the Brewers was starter Colin Rea, who struggled with his command and issued four walks while allowing five runs over 4 1⁄ innings.
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“He put himself behind the eight ball,” Murphy said. “He didn’t have command of his stuff and Colin’s a command pitcher.”
The bullpen wasn’t much better in his stead as Thyago Vieira and Mitch White both gave up home runs to the red-hot Kyle Tucker, blasts that accounted for four key insurance runs for Houston.
Tucker, one of the best hitters in the game this season, struck out in each of his first three at-bats and had mostly avoided doing any significant damage to the Brewers.
“That ran through my mind after his third strikeout,” Murphy said. “Then it haunted me after that.”
With three hits, two RBIs and a run scored, Brice Turang was one of the lone bright spots for an offense that struck first against Astros rookie starter Spencer Arrighetti but did nothing else until the seventh.
In all, Arrighetti allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks over a careerhigh 6 1⁄ innings. The 24-year-old righthander
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Contreras saw his 25-game on base streak come to an end with an 0 for 5 day at the plate.
Houston blows the game open late
With the Brewers looking to carry over some momentum from the offense’s rally in the top of the seventh inning, they turned to Mitch White while trailing by two runs. The Astros took the game right back with a three-run homer from Kyle Tucker.
Tucker’s second homer of the game and 15th of the season traveled 358 feet out to the Crawford Boxes in left field. Minute Maid Park is the only stadium where it would have been a homer.
The Brewers showed some fight in the seventh following five straight scoreless frames for Arrighetti. Joey Ortiz singled, Sal Frelick walked and Blake
Brewers relief pitcher Thyago Vieira looks up at a home run hit by Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker during the sixth inning Sunday at Minute Maid Park.
Perkins cued an infield single to load the bases and end Arrighetti’s day. The first batter reliever Bryan Abreu faced was Turang, who plucked his third hit of the day with a two-run single to right that drew Milwaukee within three runs.
Contreras flew out to center but Christian Yelich punched a third straight slider from Abreu past first baseman Jon Singleton to make it 6-4.
Adames then nearly put the Brewers in front by a run with a deep drive to right-center, but the 104.8 mph line drive fell short at the warning track after traveling 399 feet.
Tucker adds on with first homer of the day
Vieira was able to wiggle out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fifth upon relieving Rea but gave up a solo home run to Tucker with one out in the sixth.
Houston’s lead was pushed to 6-1 on the 14th homer of the season for Tucker, who is second in MLB in OPS.
Astros chase Rea in the fifth
A leadoff walk and two-out singles, the second of which by Jon Singleton brought home a run, ended Rea’s day after 4 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on eight hits and four walks.
Rea has allowed at least four runs in three of his last five starts. He had a 2.08 ERA through his first four outings and a 5.67 ERA since.
Rea battled using his secondary pitches to give the Brewers 13 outs despite a soaring pitch count — he threw 96 pitches just to get through one out in the fifth — but was underwhelmed by his fastball command.
“Just not executing my fastball early in the count,” he said. “It seemed like it was either catching too much plate or it was a ball. I thought we mixed it up pretty well with the cutter and changeup and added some curveballs and sliders when we needed to but got to get back to executing the fastball.”
Altuve sparks big Astros first inning with leadoff homer
The Brewers had mostly kept Jose Altuve quiet at the plate this series, but he jumped the first pitch Rea threw on the afternoon for a leadoff home run to tie the game at 1-1. It was Altuve’s 37th career leadoff homer.
That was just the beginning for the Astros, too.
Yordan Alvarez doubled with one out, Rea walked the next two to load the bases, Jon Singleton drove in a run with a groundout that featured a diving stop by Turang and then Jake Meyers doubled to right to plate two and cap the rally.
“Obviously that first pitch came back over the plate to Altuve,” Rea said. “Not really a spot you want to go to with him. Then after that it was kind of just nibbling. Got into some deep counts and the pitch count got up.”
Turang breaks his helmet and scores a run
Brice Turang’s batting helmet lived a good life but went to the great helmet land in the sky Sunday. It saw its tenure as a MLB helmet come to an end in the first inning when Turang stole third base with one out and it was struck by the throw from Astros catcher Victor Caratini. Its legacy was carried on when Yelich followed with a single against a drawn-in infield to score Turang, a run that otherwise would not have scored without the stolen base.
“He reacted so well, but it’s always nerve-wracking when you hear that helmet sound,” Murphy said. “He seems to be ok and played well after that.”
With this trio of base knocks Sunday, Turang now has hits in 9 of his last 11 games, including five multi-hit games in that span. His .314 batting average is second among all qualified MLB second basemen.
Brewers schedule
Brewers at Marlins 5:40 p.m. Tuesday: Milwaukee TBA vs. Miami TBA. Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.
Brewers at Marlins 5:40 p.m. Wednesday: Milwaukee TBA vs. Miami TBA. Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.