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WP: Charlie Morton (2-1); LP: Zach Davies (2-1); Save: none; HR: Mil - none; Hou - Carlos Correa GS (3)
Last Saturday the Milwaukee Brewers clinched their first Cactus Cup with a 10-5 win. They played one more Cactus League game and two exhibitions after that, and they lost all three by a combined score of 29-4. So THAT’S out of the way. Talk about mailing it in!
The Houston Astros spanked the Brewers 8-1 today, scoring four times off of Zach Davies in the first inning and allowing Milwaukee just four hits over the course of the game. The Brewers added a walk and the Astros kicked in an error to give the Crew six base runners in their nine innings of futility. A two-out seventh inning single by Nick Franklin, driving in Eric Sogard, was all that separated the Brewers from being shut out.
The Astros used a grand slam for the second game in a row to distance themselves from Milwaukee. A single, a walk, and an error by Domingo Santana in right loaded the sacks for Carlos Correa, and his homer to right cleaned things up and staked Houston starter Charlie Morton to a nice lead. The ‘Stros used two singles, a double, and a Davis wild pitch to push two more across in the third, Aaron Brooks replaced Davies in the fourth and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly, while J.J. Hoover gave up the eighth and final run on another sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Davies’ line wasn’t pretty, with six hits allowed, six runs (five earned) and two walks in his three innings. Jacob Barnes (one hit allowed) and Oliver Drake (two hits allowed) each had a scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Taylor Williams pitched the eighth inning, ceding a walk and fanning two.
So. All in all a forgettable two day trip to Houston. On to San Diego for the Brewers for the Thursday opener. Chace Anderson will go for Milwaukee, and the Padres’ opening day nod goes to lefty Clayton Richard. Richard worked just twelve innings this spring and turned in a 1.08 WHIP along with a 3.75 ERA. The game is slated to start at 3:10 Central, so we’ll see you then!