Brett Anderson was originally scheduled to start for the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night, but when he was scratched, Brent Suter was tabbed to face off against Kyle Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs. It was Suter’s second start of the year, and although it was a short one, he simply dominated. The Raptor punched out the side in order to start the game, on his way to working three scoreless innings with six strikeouts and only one hit allowed — a single by Kyle Schwarber in the second. He even performed a gymnastics routine on the mound.
Brent Suter vs. Simone Biles, Floor Routine.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 12, 2020
Suter is on the left. pic.twitter.com/1b3Jtz7mCz
After Freddy Peralta came on in the top of the fourth, the offense got to work in the bottom half to stake Milwaukee to a lead. With two outs, Dan Vogelbach singled to left, then Ryan Braun followed with a long home run to break the scoreless tie.
Mr. September. #RyanBraunForever I #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/KMrbk7EZkj
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 13, 2020
Milwaukee’s pitching continued to dominate in this game. Peralta provided two scoreless, then former indy baller Eric Yardley threw 1.1 innings without allowing a run. Alex Claudio allowed a hit but got the two outs he needed, then Devin Williams put up a zero in the eighth, striking out another two batters while lowering his ERA to 0.47. That brought on Josh Hader to save a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning.
Hader struck out Schwarber on a foul bunt to start the frame, but then allowed a single to Javier Baez. Anthony Rizzo pinch-hit for Victor Caratini, and he too singled to put runners on the corners with one out. That brought Jason Heyward to the plate, and on a 1-2 pitch, he sent the ball over the fence in center field to give the advantage to Chicago, 3-2. The next batter was Ildemaro Vargas, and he made it back-to-back jacks after mashing a center-cut, 92 MPH fastball from Hader out of the park. The four runs allowed by Hader more than doubled what he had previously given up in 12.2 innings this year.
Keston Hiura and Jedd Gyorko both singled against Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the ninth, but he buckled down after that to record his second save of the season. The 4-2 loss drops the Brewers to 20-23 on the season, while Chicago improves to 27-20. These two teams will face off in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 PM, with Adrian Houser scheduled to duel Alec Mills.