Brewers break out big bats, wallop the Rockies, 12-3

Box Score

Corbin Burnes got the start for the Milwaukee Brewers today as they took on the Colorado Rockies on the road, and he continued to look dominant in spring’s early going. The right-hander walked the first man he faced in Raimel Tapia, but that was it. He allowed zero hits and punched out five batters across two scoreless frames, though Josh Fuentes did reach on an error by shortstop Luis Urias in the second inning.

Speaking of Urias, he was removed from the game in the third inning with a hamstring issue and the team was vague about his outlook after the conclusion of the contest. Also, Jordan Zimmermann entered in the third inning and got knocked around a bit. He allowed a leadoff single to Dom Nunez, then a single to Tapia, then served up a three-run dinger to Trevor Story to give the Rockies a 3-0 lead. Zimmermann settled down after that, though, and retired the next six batters in a row to complete his two innings of work.

The Brewers got on the board in the top of the fourth inning, then continued to pour things on during the remainder of the game. Dan Vogelbach drew a walk against Mychal Givens to start the frame and was followed by Orlando Arcia, who singled. That brought up Derek Fisher, whose chances to make the team took a seemingly significant hit when Jackie Bradley, Jr. was signed. No matter, the lefty masher said, as he swatted a three-run bomb to knot the game up at 3-3.

The Cactus Crew piled on another crooked number in the fifth. Luke Maile drew a one-out walk, then runners moved to second and third when Vogelbach doubled with two outs. A double by Orlando Arcia drove both men home to make it 5-3. Fisher kept the train moving with a two-out walk, which brought intriguing third base contender Zach Green to the plate. The soon-to-be 27 year old, who owns a career 123 wRC+ in the minor leagues and got a cup of coffee with the Giants in 2019, deposited the baseball over the fence in left-center to make it an 8-3 ballgame.

The Maryvale Nine tacked on a single run in the seventh. Maile and Pablo Reyes both walked to start the inning, then after a pop out by indy ball grinder Nick Kahle, top prospect Garrett Mitchell singled back up the middle to drive home the runner from second and make it 9-3. In the ninth — yes, this game actually went nine whole innings — catching prospect Payton Henry led off with a solo dinger to make it 10-3. Reyes walked as the next batter to bring Kahle up, and he smashed a home run of his own to center field to make it 12-3.

That’s how the game ended up. After Zimmermann’s struggles in the third, Milwaukee pitching allowed only one hit the rest of the way. Brad Boxberger, Phil Bickford, JP Feyereisen, and Bobby Wahl each threw a scoreless inning apiece; in the ninth, Ray Black allowed two walks and punched out two before hitting his pitch limit and giving way to lefty Hoby Milner, who retired the only man he faced to end the ballgame.

With the win, the Brewers move to 4-2 on the spring. The chase for the Cactus Cup continues tomorrow afternoon back in Maryvale at American Family Fields of Phoenix, with the Crew taking on Cubs. Brett Anderson is scheduled to take on Shelby Miller.