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Eric Lauer made his second start for the Milwaukee Brewers tonight, and it did not go any better than his first start for the Cream City Nine did. After posting a zero in the first inning, the Twins put up a crooked number against Lauer in the second. The southpaw did not get much help from his outfield defense, including less-than-stellar plays from Christian Yelich and Avisail Garcia, but he allowed a walk, a double, four straight singles, and a wild pitch that wound up yielding five runs for the Twinkies.
Minnesota added single runs in the third (solo homer by Miguel Sano) and fourth (RBI double by Marwin Gonzalez), chasing Lauer from the ballgame after seven earned runs allowed across 3.2 innings pitched. His ERA now stands at 12.54 on the season. Things didn’t improve for Justin Grimm, the first reliever out of the bullpen, either. The Twins put together another big inning in the fifth, with Byron Buxton launching a solo shot before Luis Arraez and Mitch Garver singled. Then Grimm walked three consecutive batters, including two with the bases loaded, to force in another pair of runs. He was replaced by Eric Yardley, who yielded a sacrifice fly before escaping the inning. Buxton hit another home run in the sixth inning, this one off Yardley, to make it a 12-0 Twins lead after six and a half innings.
Luis Urias hit a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth, accounting for the only two runs that Milwaukee would score in this ballgame. Things got kind of weird in the later frames. Luis Urias got some time at short while Orlando Arcia made his defensive debut in center field. Jedd Gyorko pitched the final inning for Milwaukee after scoreless outings from Corey Knebel and Brent Suter. In the end, the Brewers lost by a score of 12-2 and they fall to two games below .500 at 7-9.
The Brewers head to Chicago next to take on the 12-3 Cubs, beginning a four-game set tomorrow at Wrigley Field before a day off on Monday. Thursday’s tilt will feature Brett Anderson taking on Yu Darvish, with first pitch scheduled for 6:15 PM central time.