Late walks bite Brewers in 3-1 loss to Twins

Box Score

It was #JuniorGuerraDay today as the Brewers attempted to complete a sweep of the Minnesota leg of this year’s Border Battle, but our hero battled his command a bit for the second straight start. He was able to limit the damage for the most part, but a high pitch count didn’t allow him to work very deeply into the game.

Both teams were held scoreless through the first four innings, and the Twins got on the board first in the fifth. Guerra started the frame and Byron Buxton led off with a single. Brian Dozier struck out to follow, but Buxton took off and swiped second base and was able to advance to third on a throwing error by catcher Jett Bandy. Dan Jennings was brought on to relieve Junior (4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 4 K) and allowed a single to Max Kepler that scored the inherited runner, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Kepler was subsequently picked off by Jennings, who then struck out Eddie Rosario to end the threat.

Milwaukee answered right back in the top of the 6th, when Jesus Aguilar cranked a two-out home run to knot the game back up at one apiece. The Brewers would get two more runners on base in the inning against Twins’ starter Jake Odorizzi, but Taylor Rogers was brought in from the bullpen and struck out Domingo Santana to limit the damage to just the one run. That wound up being the sum of Milwaukee’s scoring on the day.

The Twins pulled ahead of Milwaukee in the eighth. Taylor Williams recorded the final two outs of the previous inning and came back out to face Brian Dozier leading off, but walked him after getting ahead 0-2. That brought Craig Counsell out of the dugout to get Boone Logan in from the bullpen with Max Kepler coming to the plate. Logan walked Kepler on five pitches. The next batter was Eddie Rosario, who grounded out to Travis Shaw but was able to advance both runners to second and third with one out. Logan issued an intentional walk to Eduardo Escobar to load the bases, but then Logan Morrison lined a shot off the wall in right field. Hernan Perez played the carom well enough to hold Morrison to a single, but two runs were still able to score to put Minnesota ahead 3-1. Logan whiffed Mitch Garver and Robbie Grossman to end the frame.

Milwaukee (28-19) went down 1-2-3 in the ninth and complete their 10-game road trip with a 7-3 record after dropping today’s series finale. They’ll be atop the National League Central when they return home tomorrow to begin a three-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Chase Anderson is scheduled to return from the disabled list and make the start against #OldFriend Zack Grienke, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 PM.