Brewers survive 9th inning scare, beat Rockies 8-4

Box Score

WP: Freddy Peralta (5-2), LP: Tyler Anderson (6-4), SV: Josh Hader (8)
HR: MIL - Travis Shaw (21), Hernan Perez (9), Ryan Braun (12); COL - Trevor Story 2 (22, 23)

Freddy Peralta’s first career start came against the Colorado Rockies on Mother’s Day, striking out a franchise-record-in-a-debut 14 batters in that start.

Peralta made another start against the Rockies Saturday night, and while he didn’t quite match that performance, he turned in another quality start as the Brewers beat Colorado 8-4.

His first inning was a bit, well, rocky. After striking out Charlie Blackmon to strike the game, Peralta walked D.J. LeMahieu and hit Nolan Arenado with a pitch before striking out Carlos Gonzalez and getting Trevor Story to fly out. No damage was done in the inning, but Peralta had to throw 31 pitches to get out of the first frame.

The offense might have helped him calm down after that, with the Brewers hanging a 6-spot on Colorado starter Tyler Anderson in the first inning. Christian Yelich continued his hot streak with a double, which was followed by a walk from Jesus Aguilar and Jonathan Schoop’s first hit as a Brewer to load the bases. Ryan Braun delivered with an RBI single past a diving Arenado, and then Travis Shaw busted things open with a grand slam.

The towering shot was Shaw’s 21st home run of the season, but his first against a left-handed pitcher. Hernan Perez didn’t hesitate to keep piling on, making it back-to-back home runs with a solo shot to left-center.

Braun continued to show signs of his luck turning around in the bottom of the 3rd inning when he homered on a laser beam of a shot that actually bounced off the top of the wall and out for his second home run this week, making the score 7-0.

Peralta had a relatively stress-free outing after that outburst, other than giving up a 2-run home run to Trevor Story in the 4th, who has crushed the Brewers this season. That would end up being the only damage Peralta would give up, though, getting through 6 innings and capping off his night by getting Arenado to ground into a double play and striking out Gonzalez.

Manny Pina was able to tack on an 8th run that would later prove to be more significant than it felt at the time by hitting a sac fly to bring in Perez, who tripled in the at-bat before.

Corey Knebel came on in the 7th inning to get some low-stress work and ended up breezing through the inning with a strikeout and two groundouts. Nine of his 13 pitches were strikes, and he threw a first-pitch strike to all 3 batters he faced. Jacob Barnes followed with a scoreless 8th inning.

Matt Albers came in to try to get right himself, but his night didn’t go as well. He got Arenado to ground out to start the 9th inning, but gave up a single to Gonzalez and then surrendered Story’s second 2-run home run of the game -- and his 6th home run against the Brewers this season. A bunt single by Gerardo Parra ended Albers’ night after just one out recorded.

With the deficit cut to 8-4 with a man on, Craig Counsell brought in Joakim Soria, who gave up a double to Ian Desmond and walked Chris Iannetta to load the bases. Soria was able to strike out Tom Murphy before Counsell brought in Josh Hader to face Blackmon, who popped out to Schoop to end the game.

The last inning was more exciting that most of us would have liked, but the Brewers will have a chance to sweep the Rockies tomorrow afternoon. By winning the first two games of this series, the Brewers have positioned themselves 4 games ahead of the Rockies in the wildcard standings. Atlanta lost to the Mets, giving the Brewers a 2.5-game lead for the first wildcard spot as of now (Arizona and Los Angeles are still playing and may move up with wins).

Wade Miley will face off against Colorado ace Jon Gray in the series finale.