Knebel surrenders walkoff bomb in Bronx, Brewers lose 5-3

WP - Aroldis Chapman (2-0)
LP - Corey Knebel (0-2)
BS - Knebel (4)

HR - MIL: Domingo Santana (15), NYY: Clint Frazier (2)

Box Score

Things looked really, really good for the Brewers through six innings this afternoon. The offense put up three runs in the first inning, Brent Suter was cruising, and you could hear a pin drop in Yankee Stadium.

The last three innings were a different story, though, as Suter ran out of gas after getting north of 90 pitches and Corey Knebel gave up a game-ending three-run home run to highly-ranked prospect Clint Frazier in the bottom of the 9th in a 5-3 Brewers loss.

A night after scoring 9 runs, the Brewers' offense got it going early again this afternoon. Eric Thames blooped a double in the first inning, and Travis Shaw got on base thanks to a HBP that may or may not have grazed his jersey. Domingo Santana -- who, by the way, is younger than Aaron Judge -- took advantage of the controversial call, hitting a three-run home run the opposite way into Yankee Stadium's very short right field porch.

Unfortunately, that would be the extent of the scoring for the Brewers this afternoon.

The two teams had a contest in the bottom of the second inning to see who could have the biggest brain cramp. After Didi Gregorius reached second on a pop fly Orlando Arcia lost in the sun, Gregorious ran into a particularly egregious TOOTBLAN, trying to take third on a chopper hit to the mound by Chase Headley. Gregorious was caught between second and third by Brent Suter, and then Headley was thrown out after taking too big of a turn off of first base while Gregorious was trying to escape.

Suter was able to keep the Yankees off-balance an uncomfortable for much of the afternoon with his quick pace. New York didn't get their first hit in the game until there were two outs in the bottom of the 5th, when Frazier fought off an 0-2 pitch that beat a shift and rolled into right field.

It was the 7th inning where Suter ran into trouble, though, and it happened in a hurry. A poor route from Keon Broxton gifted Headley a ground rule double, allowing the ball to drop just past his outstretched glove and bounce into the bullpen. Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a single to center to put runners on the corners with one out. Suter then made a poor pickoff throw to first that got back Thames, allowing Headley to score the Yankees' first run and getting Ellsbury all the way over to third. Frazier followed with an RBI triple that was very nearly a game-tying home run. That was the end of Suter's day, as he was replaced by Jared Hughes.

With the infield in, Hughes was able to get Ji-man Choi to ground out to second. Jonathan Villar was able to chase down a pop fly from Ronald Torreyes in shallow right field to end the threat.

The Yankees' Luis Severino, a first-time All-Star this year, pitched like one despite the rough first inning. He rebounded from Santana's homer to strike out 10 over 7 innings, allowing no other runs. Dellin Betances came on in relief in the 8th inning and struck out two Brewers. The only one who didn't was Ryan Braun, who appeared to limp off the field after grounding out to first base. He was replaced in the field by Hernan Perez.

After Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the top of the 9th, Brewers Lone All-Star Corey Knebel came on to try to nail down the one-run save. Unfortunately, the outing did not go well. Knebel walked Gregorious on four pitches to lead off the inning, then got Headley to strike out swinging with a curveball in the dirt to extend his Conesecutive Games with a K streak to 42. However, he followed that with a walk on four pitches to Ellsbury before surrendering a walkoff three-run home run to Frazier.

The Brewers now wait to see the outcome of tonight's Cubs-Pirates game on FOX to see if their lead in the NL Central remains at 4.5 games or not. They'll hope to close the first half out on a strong note Sunday afternoon with Jimmy Nelson taking the mound against Masahiro Tanaka.