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Brewers fall to Angels, 4-3, as Milwaukee falls to .500 in spring training

Lucas Erceg struggled in the opening inning and Milwaukee couldn’t muster enough offense to make a comeback

MLB: Spring Training-Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Angels Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Brewers fell to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon, falling to 3-3 in Arizona.

Milwaukee struck first, with Garrett Mitchell leading off the game with a soft hit grounder into left field that he turned into a hustle double. Abraham Toro drove him in with two outs in the inning, smashing a liner off the right field wall to make it 1-0.

The Angels struck right back in the bottom half, with each of their first four batters reaching on two singles and two walks to tie it up and load the bases. Former Brewer Hunter Renfroe drove in another run on a double play, making it 2-1 and marking the end of the day for Lucas Erceg on the mound.

Brandon Drury hit a double off Erceg’s replacement, James Meeker, to make it 3-1 entering the second. A Mike Brosseau walk and an error by Anthony Rendon on a ground ball put runners at the corners with no outs, and Milwaukee would get a run back on a Payton Henry single later in the inning.

In a single inning of work, Devin Williams induced three flyouts, all of which ended up in the glove of Garrett Mitchell in center, including an impressive catch on the warning track. After loading the bases with three straight walks in the third, the Angels got out of the inning as Brosseau hit into a double play.

L.A. would make it 4-2 with two singles and a balk by Thomas Pannone, allowing Renfroe to score from third. From there on, the only real offense was a solo homer by Brosseau in the top of the sixth to make it 4-3.

Milwaukee didn’t have difficulty getting runners on, totaling seven hits and seven walks, but they struggled to drive them home, hitting into three double plays on the day. Toro went 2-for-2 while Mitchell, Brosseau, Owen Miller, Henry, and Alex Jackson had a hit each.

On the mound, Milwaukee used nine pitchers over eight innings, including Williams’ first appearance of the spring. Erceg got the loss after giving up three runs in just 23 innings, while Chase Silseth got the win for the Angels.

Milwaukee returns to action against the Rangers at 2:10 p.m. CT tomorrow. Corbin Burnes is scheduled to make his spring debut against Dane Dunning at American Family Fields of Phoenix. The game will be available on Bally Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.