Brewers Strike Early in 6-2 Win Over Giants

The Brewers struck first, struck fast, and were in control through Tuesday night’s 6-2 win over the Giants.

In the first inning, Willy Adames singled on his first at-bat back in the lineup as the Crew’s shortstop. Christian Yelich, extending his latest hitting streak to ten, beat the shift with a dribbler to left. Omar Narváez hit a rope to right to score Adames and move Yelich to third. Yelich was well-positioned to score on an Avisaíl García ground out. The Brewers were up 2-0 within the first 10 pitches.

Lorenzo Cain tacked on another run in the second with a lean-back solo home run to lead off the inning to bring the Brewers up 3-0.

Brandon Woodruff was dominant throughout. In the early innings, he allowed only the slightest of missteps to leadoff hitters before he shut down the side.

First, there was the leadoff double to open up the first inning ahead of three consecutive outs to end the inning. Woodruff opened the second with a walk, then struck out Mike Yaztremski with big, sinking fastballs and a fastball high and erased the walk with a double play. To open the third, Alex Dickerson got a piece of Woodruff fastball that would have been out of many ballparks but was instead chased down by Lorenzo Cain in left-center. Woodruff was in control over the next ten pitches, in which he struck out the rest of the side.

Johnny Cueto was doing the exact opposite of Woodruff, struggling throughout, and surrendering runs on two outs. After Brewer scoring rallies in the first and second, Cueto was looking to get out of the third inning clean. He had two outs and two strikes to Avisaíl García. Instead, he hit García, who scored when Rowdy Tellez hit a huge, arching fly that bounced off the wall for a triple.

Tellez was in position to score when Lorenzo Cain hit his second hit and second RBI in his second at-bat of the night, bringing the Brewers up 5-0.

Cueto did it again in the fourth, seating Kolton Wong and Willy Adames to begin the inning, but allowing Christian Yelich to smoke a single to the gap in center. Yelich then scored on what looked like a routine flyout from Omar Narváez to bring the Brewers up 6-0. The Giants went to their bullpen, which kept the Brewer bats quiet for the rest of the contest.

Woodruff surrendered the only run of his performance to Brandon Belt to lead off the sixth inning. He finished the night with a Cy Young-worthy performance - five hits, one run, three walks, and eight strikeouts through six innings.

Jake Cousins came on in relief in the seventh inning. He walked two before, with plenty of guidance from Omar Narváez, he regained control and struck out Brandon Belt and Buster Posey on masterful sliders.

Brent Suter blazed through the eighth, striking out two, allowing no hits, and walking no one. The ninth was more clunky for Suter, who surrendered a lead-off home run to Wilmer Flores to make it 6-2. He struck out two more batters before allowing LaMonte Wade a single. Wade advanced to third on a balk and defensive indifference before Brandon Belt finally flew out to Lorenzo Cain to end the game.

The Brewers look to take the series at Oracle Park tomorrow at 8:45 pm.