Brewers survive late Royals rally, finish spring with 5-4 win

Box Score

The Brewers are going into the regular season with a little bit of momentum. A rough spring came to a good end, with a 5-4 win over the Royals.

In his final start of the spring, Adrian Houser was on top of his game. He pitched six shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four. He faced just one batter over the minimum and didn’t allow a runner past first base. Josh Hader also got his final spring tune-up, striking out two in an inning of work.

Meanwhile, the offense made sure to back up Houser’s work. Brent Diaz hit a two-run home run in the second inning to put the Brewers on the board. The Brewers added two more in the third inning with a Lorenzo Cain single, Willy Adames double, and Keston Hiura single. They had a 4-0 lead through three innings, and held that until the eighth inning.

Devin Williams came in for the eighth, looking to get one more inning of work in before the regular season. Unfortunately, it did not go well for him. He started the inning with three straight walks, then a balk scored the Royals first run. After a strikeout, Williams’ day ended and Stiven Cruz came in with two runners on base. A ground-rule double from Logan Porter closed the lead to 4-3, and another ground-rule double by Nick Loftin tied the game at 4-4.

The Brewers offense rallied to get that lead back quickly. A one out walk from Brent Diaz put a runner on base. A wild pitch moved Diaz to second, and a groundout moved him up to third. With two outs, Terence Doston singled and the Brewers had the lead back at 5-4. Jake Cousins came in to finish the game up, and a scoreless inning with two strikeouts secured the Brewers win.

The Brewers finish their spring with a 7-9-2 record. They now have an off day as they finish up the roster, and then Opening Day finally happens on Thursday in Chicago. Corbin Burnes and Kyle Hendricks face off at Wrigley Field in Chicago. First pitch is at 1:20 PM CDT, and the game will be on Bally Sports Wisconsin, MLB Network, and the Brewers Radio Network.