Pitching staff implodes as Brewers fall to Padres 11-5

WP: Matt Strahm (3-3)
LP: Josh Hader (4-1)

HR: Mike Moustakas (22), Jesus Aguilar (27), Hunter Renfroe (10), Franmil Reyes (8), Manuel Margot (5)

Box Score

What started out a blowout on the Brewers end turned into a blowout for the Padres.

In the bottom of the first, Lorenzo Cain led off for the Brewers with a single. It didn’t take long for him to come home, as Jesus Aguilar homered to give the Brewers an early 2-0 lead. That wasn’t all in the first. Ryan Braun doubled with two outs, and then Mike Moustakas also homered. That gave the Brewers an early 4-0 lead.

Chase Anderson started the game well, striking out two in the first two innings and retiring the first six batters he faced. Unfortunately, it started unraveling in the third. Franmil Reyes walked to start, and Cory Spangenberg singled to put two runners on base. After a sacrifice bunt by Clayton Richard, Manuel Margot singled to drive in two runs, closing the Brewers lead to 4-2. Eric Hosmer singled to put another runner on base, and Christian Villanueva also drew a walk, but no more runs crossed in the third.

The Brewers did get one back in the bottom of the third. Jonathan Schoop led off with a single, advanced to second on a balk, then got to third when Ryan Braun flew out. Mike Moustakas sent a fly ball out to center field next, deep enough to bring in Jonathan Schoop and make it a 5-2 Brewers lead.

However, the Padres just kept chipping away. Franmil Reyes homered in the fourth to cut the Brewers lead to 5-3. Manuel Margot followed up with a home run in the fifth to cut it to 5-4. A couple of walks in the fifth ended the night for Chase Anderson, who finished the day with 4.2 IP and four runs allowed, along with five hits and four walks, and just four strikeouts. Corbin Burnes came in next, finishing off the fifth for the Brewers.

Unfortunately, Burnes could not stabilize the pitching tonight. He came back out for the sixth, and singles by Reyes and Spangenberg, along with a sacrifice bunt by Carlos Asuaje, put runners at second and third. Margot hit a sacrifice fly after that, tying the game at 5-5. Josh Hader finished off the sixth for the Brewers, getting a ground out from Eric Hosmer to end the inning.

Hader was out again for the seventh inning, and the Padres kept the hits coming as Renfroe and Villanueva singled, putting runners at first and third. With one out, the Padres tried to go for the safety squeeze, but Aguilar made a nice play on the bunt and got Renfroe at home for the second out of the inning, keeping the score tied at 5-5. It wouldn’t stay tied for much longer though, as Reyes doubled next to give the Padres a 7-5 lead. Hader finished up the seventh for the Brewers, but the damage was done.

It didn’t get better in the next two innings. Jacob Barnes struck out the side in the eighth, but an error by Schoop set up a two-run home run from Renfroe, increasing the Padres lead to 9-5. Dan Jennings came in for the ninth, and allowed a walk and a triple that ended up scoring two runs because of Schoop’s second error of the night, this one happening at shortstop. That pushed the Padres lead to 11-5, where the game would finish.

While the Brewers offense found some success against Clayton Richard, getting five runs and seven hits off of him, the Padres bullpen shut them down. The Brewers managed just three walks and a hit against the bullpen, killing any chance of them mounting a comeback late in the game.

On offense, Lorenzo Cain led the day with a 2-for-5 now, and Mike Moustakas and Jesus Aguilar each added a home run. All of the starters did reach base at least once, and Yelich was the only starter without a hit. Unfortunately, most of that came early in the game, and the Brewers couldn’t keep it going late.

Meanwhile, every bullpen pitcher allowed at least one earner run tonight. Corbin Burnes was the only one who allowed a single run, and Jacob Barnes and Dan Jennings each allowed an unearned run because of an error from Jonathan Schoop. All of that together just prevented the Brewers from mounting a comeback late in this game.

It’s back to work tomorrow for the Brewers. Jhoulys Chacín will pitch against his former team looking to stop the two-game losing streak, and he’ll have to face Brett Kennedy to do it. Kennedy will be making his major league debut tomorrow. First pitch is at 7:10 pm