Milwaukee Brewers ride 7-run 2nd inning to 8-4 victory over Marlins

After winning yesterday’s series opener against the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers were looking to guarantee a series victory by capturing today’s ball game. Zach Davies got the start for the Brew Crew, looking to build off his best outing of the season during his last appearance.

Unfortunately, Davies didn’t get off to the best start. Zach retired the first batter he faced before walking two straight, and then Justin Bour lined a two-run double to give Miami a 2-0 1st inning lead. Of Davies’ first 25 pitches, Miami batters offered at only two of them!

Davies has been one of the luckiest starters in the big leagues this year in terms of run support, and that trend continued today. The 2-0 deficit didn’t last long, as Milwaukee’s offense got to work in the 2nd inning. Travis Shaw lead off with a walk, and then Domingo Santana hit this home run that was almost a highlight reel play by Giancarlo Stanton - fortunately, almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades:

That blast tied the game at 2 apiece. Stephen Vogt then hit a single, Keon Broxton struck out, and Orlando Arcia singled. An error on a pickoff throw allowed the runners to move to 2nd and 3rd with one out. A fielder’s choice by Zach Davies plated Milwaukee’s 3rd run, then Jonathan Villar cracked an RBI single to make it 4-2. A soft single by Eric Thames loaded the bases for Ryan Braun, who struck out to make it two outs in the inning. Travis Shaw, who lead off the inning, then came up and singled to score another two runs, making it 6-2. Domingo Santana and Stephen Vogt then walked in consecutive at-bats, Vogt with the bases loaded to bring in the inning’s 7th run. Finally Broxton, the 13th man to bat in the inning, struck out again to put an end to the threat.

Davies allowed another 2 runs in the 3rd inning before settling down to complete 6.0 frames. He allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits and two walks, striking out 5 batters during the outing. It was yet another subpar start for the 24 year old righty, who saw his ERA rise to 5.03 through 91.1 innings on the year.

Milwaukee scored their 8th and final run in the 5th inning on a solo home run by Orlando Arcia. After an awfully slow start to the season, Arcia has really come around during the last two months. A 3-for-4 performance today raised his season-long line to .285/.326/.423 with 7 home runs through 286 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of 90. Prior to the season I predicted that Arcia might need to spend some time in the minor leagues this season; I think it’s safe to admit that I was wrong. Must be all that ice cream Orlando has been eating.

Josh Hader, Jared Hughes, and Oliver Drake each pitched a scoreless inning apiece to close out the game and give the Brewers an 8-4 victory. Today’s win improved the club’s record to 44-39, and a Cubs loss to the Reds pushed the first-place Brewers’ lead in the NL Central to 3 games.

The Milwaukee Nine will look to complete the series sweep tomorrow behind embattled ace Junior Guerra (1-2, 4.54 ERA), who is coming off easily the worst outing of his career. He’ll face off against Dan Straily (5-4, 3.44 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 PM CST.