Win: Yovani Gallardo (9-4)
Loss: Francisco Liriano (4-7)
HR: Gomez (5), Betancourt (5), Fielder (21), Hart (8)
MVP: Carlos Gomez (.192)
LVP: Prince Fielder (-.042)
Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph
There isn't much to tell you about this game that the final score doesn't already. The Brewers hit and pitched well. The Twins, not so much.
And this was supposed to be the pitching match up of the series. Maybe the pitching match up of the night around the MLB. Yovani Gallardo held up his end of the deal. He went seven innings and struck out six, allowing just that lone Twins run. Francisco Liriano allowed six times as many runs (five earned) and struck out half the amount of hitters that Gallardo did. Liriano also pitched just 3.2 innings. Liriano is always a dangerous pitcher, just on occasion he's dangerous to his own team. Tonight was one of those occasions.
The game didn't start the best for the Brewers. In a rarity, Gallardo threw a lot of pitches threw the first two innings. The Twins managed to start a rally and sneak in a run in the second to draw first blood. Then the Brewers hit, and hit, and hit some more. Their night offensively started in the third with a Carlos Gomez two run home run to take the lead. Then Weeks singled, then Hart walked, then Braun singled, then Fielder struck out, then McGehee singled. Following the Gomez homer, that sequence of events brought the score to 5-1, and the Brewers never looked back.
If you hadn't seen this game or heard about it yet, you may want to sit down. Are you sitting? Good. Yuniesky Betancourt...no he wasn't signed to an extension--hit an inside the park home run. I'll let that sink in a little bit. It happened about the same way most ITPHRs happen--a defensive misplay. This misplay came from Delmon Young (not exactly known for defense) and also resulted in what looked like a bad injury as he crashed into the wall. We can only hope he's OK, but it didn't look good. And we got a good look at it thanks to FSN showing it a few dozen times.
Look at the home runs. Now the LVP. Back to the home runs. Back to the LVP. Sadly, a home run hitter was the LVP. But if he stopped having just one hit and started hitting like Carlos Gomez, he could be the MVP.
The Cardinals lost to the Blue Jays 6-3. The Brewers are two games in first place for the first time this season.