Domingo Santana hits 2 home runs, but Milwaukee Brewers lose to Angels, 6-5

Box Score

The Cactus Crew came into this game looking to ruin the undefeated Angels’ perfect record in Cactus League play. They managed to potentially ruin the health of a couple of LA hurlers (Huston Street left with bicep irritation, Bud Norris with an apparent blister) but couldn’t pull out the victory as they lost in walk-off fashion, 6-5.

The Brewers jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first against Angels’ starter Matt Shoemaker. Jonathan Villar hit a one-out single and would advance to second on an errant pickoff throw with Domingo Santana at the plate. Shoemaker promptly served up a long home run to Domingo, his first of the spring. Santana would go deep again in the third inning for his second home run of the day, and he also added a double during a 3-3 day at the plate.

#2017BrewersAce Junior Guerra got the start for Milwaukee, his second appearance of the spring. Guerra looked sharp against Los Angeles, striking out Cameron Maybin to lead off the bottom of the first en route to working two scoreless innings. He didn’t allow a hit and the only blemish on his card was a walk to Mike Trout. Guerra has now worked three scoreless innings this spring with three punchouts.

Jimmy Nelson, who we can now add to the pile of Brewer hurlers that throw a splitter of a variation thereof, came on to relieve the ace in the third inning. For as excellent as Domingo was at the plate today, he misplayed a ball in right field during the third inning that was ruled an error. The run would later come around to score when Nelson allowed a two-out double to Kole Calhoun to make the score 3-1. Nelson allowed that lone unearned run and registered two strikeouts during his inning of work.

The Angels tied the game at 3 apiece in the fourth inning with two runs off of Carlos Torres. Joba Chamberlain managed a scoreless fifth inning with a walk and a strikeout, and then there was more trouble in the sixth inning as Michael Blazek allowed two hits and a run to score to give Los Angeles a 4-3 lead.

Milwaukee re-took the lead in the top of the 7th when right fielder Shane Robinson misplayed a ball of the bat of Dustin Houle. The error allowed two runs to score and the Brewers jumped ahead 5-4. The lead was short lived, however, as the Angels tied the score back up in the bottom of the frame against Taylor Jungmann. Old friend Eric Young, Jr. worked a one-out walk, stole second base, and came around to score on an RBI single by Shane Robinson.

The Brewers went down in order in the top of the ninth (after Garrett Cooper hit a two-out single and then was thrown out by Shane Robinson after he rounded too far off of first) and Tyler Spurlin took the mound for the Brewers in the bottom half. He allowed a leadoff single to Jack Kruger and after a sac bunt by Sherman Johnson, walked Eric Young, Jr. and Shane Robinson to load the bases. With the infield in and the outfield playing shallow, Spurlin served up an RBI single to David Fletcher to give the Angels a walk-off victory by a score of 6-5.

The Brewers fall to 2-5 in Cactus League play after today’s loss. They’ll face off against the Rangers (2-6) tomorrow at 2:05 PM CST at Maryvale Baseball Park. Zach Davies will take the mound against Chi Chi Gonzalez, and the game will be broadcast on FSWisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.