Mike Trout robs Christian Yelich, Brewers bats go silent in 5-2 loss to Angels

W: Trevor Cahill (1-1)
L: Jhoulys Chacin (2-1)
SV: Cody Allen (2)
HR: MIL - Mike Moustakas (3); LAA - Tommy La Stella (1), Andrelton Simmons (1), Justin Bour (1)

Box Score

The focus heading into this series between the Brewers and Angels was Christian Yelich vs. Mike Trout, and that matchup didn’t disappoint in the series’ first game, even as the Brewers lost to the Angels, 5-2.

Yelich started the back-and-forth by dropping a bloop single in front of Trout in the top of the 1st inning and ended up stealing a base on Jonathan Lucroy, but did not come around to score.

Trout’s first at-bat ended up in a walk, as Jhoulys Chacin clearly had no interest in giving him anything to hit for much of the night. Like the Brewers in the top half of the inning, though, the Angels were turned away without any runs in their half of the 1st after Andrelton Simmons grounded into a double play.

The Brewers would get on the board first in the top of the 2nd inning. Mike Moustakas showed signs of breaking out of his mini-slump, ripping a could-have-been double to right field but tripping as he rounded first base, leading to just a single. After a walk by Yasmani Grandal and a flyout by Eric Thames, it was Orlando Arcia continuing his recent hot streak, pushing the first run of the night across on an RBI double.

The lead would be short-lived, though, as the Angels rallied in the bottom half of the 2nd inning while Chacin struggled with his command early. A leadoff walk and a single to start the inning had the looks of an Angels rally, but a headfirst sliding catch by Christian Yelich robbed Jonathan Lucroy of extra bases, and a throw to second doubled off Albert Pujols.

That play ended up saving a couple additional runs, as former Cub Tommy La Stella hit a 2-run homer in the next at-bat to give the Angels a 2-1 lead.

The Brewers nearly got even in the next half inning, but Trout had other ideas, robbing Yelich of a possible homer (at the very least extra bases) with a leaping grab at the wall that caused Yelich to smile and tip his cap.

Milwaukee *did* tie the game an inning later, when Mike Moustakas hit one into the shrubberies in centerfield, where Trout couldn’t get to it.

But again, that would not last long, as Simmons led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a solo home run to give the Angels the lead back at 3-2.

Chacin would settle down after that, ending up with a quality start after pitching into the 7th inning, but that home run would prove to be the Game-Winning RBI of the night.

The Brewers’ offense struggled to get anything going against Trevor Cahill, and essentially shut it down for the night after the 4th inning, going down 1-2-3 in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th innings. The only thing preventing 15 straight outs to end the game was a Yelich single in the 8th inning.

With the bats nowhere to be found, a 2-run home run from Justin Bour in the 8th inning off of Chase Anderson effectively put the game out of reach at 5-2.

The bats will try to come back to life tomorrow night against Matt Harvey, who gave up 8 runs in his previous start. Fastball Freddy Peralta will get the start for the Brewers. First pitch will once again be at 9:07 p.m. CDT.