W: Carlos Villanueva (2-0)
L: Manny Acosta (3-2)
S: John Axford (23)
HR: Lucas Duda (3), David Wright (28)
MVP: Prince Fielder (+.354)
LVP: Yovani Gallardo (-.490)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
SB Nation Coverage
Anyone who's moved into or out of a building with multiple stories knows this feeling: You just carried something heavy up the stairs. As you get to the top, you set it down to catch your breath for a moment. Then you hear a crash, and realize that thing you just hauled up the stairs is rolling itself back down. For seven innings, game one was like that.
The Brewer bats exploded for six runs in the third inning, staking Yovani Gallardo to a 6-0 lead and raising their win expectancy to 94%, according to FanGraphs. Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, Lorenzo Cain, Jonathan Lucroy and Luis Cruz all had RBI hits in the inning.
From there, however, the implosion was on in full force. Gallardo allowed two runs in the third and five more in the fourth, lasting just 3.1 innings in a disaster start. He did collect four strikeouts in the game to get to 200 on the season: He's now just the second Brewer ever to record 200 in two different seasons (Teddy Higuera is the other).
The bullpen behind Gallardo was actually pretty good, though: Manny Parra pitched 2.2 scoreless innings on just 36 pitches, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out three, and Carlos Villanueva (pitching for the first time since September 7th) added a scoreless inning. The Brewer bats came back to life briefly in the eighth inning with Corey Hart plating Carlos Gomez on an infield single to tie the game. Gomez had gotten on base via walk, his first base on balls since July 30. Then Prince Fielder singled Hart home with his third hit of the day, giving the Brewers back the lead.
Kameron Loe pitched a scoreless eighth and John Axford, less than 24 hours removed from Tuesday night's blown save, closed the door in the ninth.
The game thread for game two will be open momentarily. The Mets used eight pitchers in game one, so this could be interesting.