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W: Chad Qualls (2-0)
L: Jim Henderson (2-2)
S: Steve Cishek (7)
HR: Derek Dietrich (6), Giancarlo Stanton (4)
MVP: Yuniesky Betancourt (+.245 WPA)
LVP: Jim Henderson (-.558)
I think I was talking to my wife the other day when I said this:
Just you wait, now that the starters are pitching better the bullpen's going to start to struggle.
Quality starts and late leads have been tough to come by for the Brewers lately, but they wasted one of each tonight when Jim Henderson gave up a two run home run to Giancarlo Stanton and turned a 4-3 lead into an eventual 5-4 loss to the NL's worst team.
The Brewers got a somewhat unusual quality start from Wily Peralta tonight, as he had to work out of a lot of trouble early. He allowed the first five batters he faced in the second inning to reach and three runs to score, and it looked like it would be an early night for him. Instead, he escaped without further damage and faced the minimum in each of his next four innings. He ended up completing six innings on just 60 pitches, allowing the aforementioned three runs on five hits and a walk.
Despite that solid evening, though, Peralta was on the hook for the loss until the Brewers plated two in the seventh on Yuniesky Betancourt's RBI triple and Scooter Gennett's suicide squeeze to drive him home. The Brewers put together four runs tonight on just five hits, and Betancourt's triple was their only non-single.
The Crew stumbled into trouble in the seventh inning when Michael Gonzalez, brought in to protect a one-run lead, allowed a leadoff double. John Axford put out the fire, though, and has now pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings. He's the first Brewer reliever to do that since Francisco Rodriguez in 2011.
Elsewhere in streaks, Norichika Aoki went 0-for-4 tonight and snapped his eleven game hitting streak. Jean Segura had two hits, though, and now has at least one in a career-high eight consecutive games.
This series wraps up tomorrow night when Alfredo Figaro takes on Kevin Slowey at 6:10.