Offense remains hot in Brewers 13-6 win over Giants

Box Score

The Brewers have scored 33 runs in 4 spring games so far. That’s an early good sign for the offense this season.

In the early game, the starting pitchers were dominant. Brewers starter Adrian Houser was sharp in his first spring start, pitching three perfect innings with five strikeouts. However, Giants starter Alex Wood matched him, recording two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Once it turned over to the bullpens, both offenses began to break through.

The Brewers struck first, as Willy Adames hit a lead-off home run in the fourth to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. The Giants responded in the bottom of the fifth, manufacturing a run with a single, double, and sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. Next inning, the Brewers loaded the bases with no outs, then Pedro Severino drove two runs in to increase the lead to 3-1. The Giants got a run back in the bottom of the inning. A hit by pitch and walk put two runners on base, then a ground out brought a run in when Brice Turang had a throwing error. In the seventh, the Giants tied it up on a solo home run from Will Toffey, and the game was 3-3 after seven innings.

In the eighth, a lead-off walk from Brett Sullivan and single from Sal Frelick put runners at first and third. Sullivan scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-3 game, then Garrett Whitley walked to put another runner on base. Jamie Westbrook followed that up with a three-run home run, increasing the Brewers lead to 7-3. The Giants responded in the bottom of the inning, but only were able to get one run back with an Armani Smith home run.

The flood gates fully opened in the ninth inning. Mark Mathias singled to lead off the inning, and Joey Wiemer walked for two runners on base. Brett Sullivan brought in one of them with a single to center and a fielding error let both Wiemer and Sullivan to advance, and the lead was increased to 8-4. Two batters later, Sal Frelick brought them both in with an RBI single, increasing the lead to 10-4. Another walk to Garrett Whitley put two runners on base, and Jamie Westbrook hit a ball to third that was mishandled, giving the Brewers their 11th run. Andruw Monasterio brought in another run with an RBI single. Brice Turang walked to load the bases, and a Mathias sacrifice fly increased the lead to 13-4. The Giants did get two more runs on a Grant McCray home run in the bottom of the inning, but the Brewers easily held on for the 13-6 win.

Of the 18 Brewers on offense that got an at-bat, 16 of them got on base at least once. As a team, the Brewers had 14 hits and 9 walks. The pitching had a bit of a rougher day. Adrian Houser had three scoreless innings, and Josh Hader had a three-strikeout inning. However, the rest of the bullpen (Trevor Gott, Jandel Gustave, Josh Lindblom, Luke Barker, Moises Gomez) each gave up at least one run.

The Brewers are back home on Tuesday to face the White Sox. Eric Lauer will face Lucas Giolito at American Family Fields of Phoenix. First pitch is at 3:10 pm CDT.