The legend of Eric Thames grows.
The repatriated slugger bashed his fifth homer of the series, sending the Brewers to their fifth win in six tries and the Reds to Kayak to search for deals on one way tickets back to South Korea.
Everyone was in the home run spirit on a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon in downtown Cincinnati, as all six of the game’s runs were scored on homers.
After threatening with a pair of runners in the first and second innings, Milwaukee kicked off the scoring with back-to-back dingers in the third frame. Arismendy Alcantara’s second error of the day allowed Thames to reach, and Ryan Braun promptly made him pay with a two-run shot. The blast gave Braun his 943rd and 944th RBI, inching past Cecil Cooper for second place on the Brewers all-time list.
The Mayor of Ding Dong City followed Braun and delivered his second State of the Union address of the season, as the birthday boy gave Milwaukee an early 3-0 lead. Cincinnati starter Sal Romano, making his major league debut, walked the next two batters but managed to escape further damage. The inning would be his last, and the Reds bullpen had to cover six innings after eating eight on Saturday.
Wily Peralta logged his second quality start and third win of the young season, allowing two runs on three hits. The blemish on his resume came via a two-run home run from Eugenio Suarez in the fourth, the third baseman’s third of the season. Peralta walked three and struck out just one batter over six innings of work.
Thames delivered the Badger Mutual with a solo shot in the seventh that sealed the scoring for the day. The Brewers new first baseman finished the series 7-for-16 with two walks (.500 OBP), five home runs, and eight RBI, and is now tied with Yoenis Cespedes atop the National League home run leaderboard.
Neftali Feliz came on for the ninth and recorded his fourth save, closing the door with a 98 MPH, 3-2 fastball that Zack Cozart took exception to for a called strike three.
The Good Tweet: Keon Broxton, who is off to a slow start for the second straight April, was given the day off in favor of Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Broxton took the opportunity to work on getting some of his equipment back in good working condition:
If your bats are dead and not getting hits, or making hard contact. Put your bats on the Charger! My bats are charging as we speak. pic.twitter.com/WEpIjH7Hry
— Loverboy9 (@KeonDDBroxton) April 16, 2017
On Deck: The Brewers’ road trip concludes with a trip to the Friendly Confines for their second meeting with the World Champions at their other home park. The Brewers previously dropped two of three to Chicago at Miller Park last week. Chase Anderson goes for Milwaukee on Monday opposite John Lackey, first pitch is at 7:05.