Brewers thump Twins, 8-3

WP: Brent Suter (3-3); LP: Kyle 6)Gibson (1-2); Save: none; Home Runs: Mil - Ji-Man Choi (1); Jesus Aguilar 2 (5); Min - Max Keplar (6)

And a very nice box score it is!

The Milwaukee Brewers (27-18) rode their hot bats and a solid start from Brent Suter to jump out early against the Minnesota Twins (18-22) for an easy 8-3 win at Target Field in Minneapolis tonight.

The Brewers collected 15 hits, with only the first and sixth innings going hitless. For that matter, they scored in six of the nine innings. Jesus Aguilar led the offense with two homeruns, a single, a walk, two runs scored, and three RBI. Ji-Man Choi put the Brewers ahead in the top of the second with a one out homer into the bullpen in left center. Jonathan Villar contributed a 3-4 night with a double, two runs, and an RBI sac fly.

Aguilar’s two home runs were about two feet away from being two foul balls. His first, a mammoth shot down the left field line into the third deck off of Twins’ starter Kyle Gibson, was fair by about two feet. His second, off of side winding righty Trevor Hildenberger, was a liner down the left field line that hit the foul pole about two feet over the fence. A game of inches, they say.

On the mound, Brent Suter carried a shut-out into the bottom of the sixth before allowing a one out double, single, and sacrifice fly, which pulled the Twins within 5-1. Brent finished his night with 5 ²⁄₃ innings, five hits, one run (earned), one walk, and six strikeouts.

Jeremy Jeffress relieved Suter and retired the side on one pitch. He worked a scoreless seventh, allowing a two-out single. Boone Logan had the eighth and ran into trouble after retiring the first two, serving up a single and a long two-run homer to Max Kepler. Kepler had a good night at the plate for the Twins, driving in all three, and collecting a walk, double, sac fly, and the homer. His double narrowly missed going out in the bottom of the second, when the Twins put runners on second and third with nobody out against Suter, only to go scoreless on a comebacker to Brent, a strikeout, and a pop out that finished the frame.

Corey Knebel come on for his first work since last Sunday, and looked like the ninth inning Knebel from last year. He had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.

The win, combined with a Pirates’ home loss to San Diego, vaults the Crew back into first place, a half game up. As of this writing, both the Cubs and Cardinals were winning their contests.

Look for two fine young pitchers to lock horns in tomorrow night’s match-up. The Twins Fernando Romero, 23, is 2-0 with a fine 0.54 ERA. In three starts he has gone 16 ²⁄₃ innings with 20 strikeouts and a 1.20 WHIP. Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta, 21, is coming off of his sterling winning debut, when he struck out 13 over 5 ²⁄₃ innings on Mothers’ Day, Peralta hasn’t allowed a run, and his WHIP is at a minuscule 0.53 after his one-hit start.