Brewers use small ball to defeat Angels 7-5

Box Score

The Brewers are back on the winning side of a series after a 7-5 win over the Angels this evening. They got that win despite being outhit and having a pair of ejections.

After a couple of scoreless innings, the Brewers got on the board in the third inning. Victor Caratini walked and Owen Miller doubled to put two runners on base with no outs. Joey Wiemer then brought in the first run of the game with a groundout to first, allowing Caratini to score. Christian Yelich grounded out to move Miller to third, and Willy Adames singled to bring in Miller for a 2-0 lead. Adames advanced to second on a passed ball and William Contreras brought him in with a double, ending the third with a 3-0 lead.

Corbin Burnes got the start and looked more like himself. He pitched six innings, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out five. The only run he gave up came in the fifth inning. The Angels led off the inning with two singles and Mike Trout brought in Gio Urshela with a sacrifice fly.

The Brewers extended their lead in the fifth. Miller walked to start the inning and Wiemer singled for a second baserunner. Yelich hit a hard grounder to third, but a fielding error by Anthony Rendon allowed him to reach and load the bases. After Adames struck out, Contreras drew a walk to increase the lead to 4-1. That ended Reid Detmers day and Andrew Wantz came into the game in relief. Jesse Winker pinch-hit for Mike Brosseau and singled to bring in Wiemer and Yelich. Then Brian Anderson was hit by a pitch and Caratini walked to increase the lead to 7-1.

In the top of the sixth, Burnes got two outs to start the inning without issue. Brandon Drury hit a line drive to center that looked like it was headed for extra bases, but Joey Wiemer took it away from him with a diving catch to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, on the scorebook, it was just a 1-2-3 inning. However, the end of the inning featured some fireworks. Willy Adames was up at the plate with two outs. The second pitch was called a strike even though it was significantly high outside of the strike zone and Adames had called for time, which wasn’t granted. Adames had a few words for umpire Adam Beck after that and was called for a batter timer violation. That got Craig Counsell out for a few words, and he was ejected from the game. That was Counsell’s 26th ejection, which is a Brewers record for a manager. The next pitch was a swinging strike for Adames resulting in a strikeout, and Adames had some more words for Beck. That resulted in Adames’ first career ejection, and he had to be brought back to the clubhouse by a couple of players.

The Brewers turned the game over to the bullpen after that. Elvis Peguero pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning. He came back out for the eighth but got into trouble right away. Zach Neto singled to lead off the inning, then Mike Trout hit a two-run home run to close the gap to 7-3. Shohei Ohtani singled after that and stole second, and Anthony Rendon drew a walk. The Brewers brought in Peter Strzelecki, and even though the Angels got a double steal, Strzelecki kept them from scoring again with two strikeouts and a lineout to end the inning.

Bryse Wilson came into the game in the ninth to try to close it out. Matt Thaiss hit a one-out single, then Trout hit his second home run of the night to close the gap to 7-5. Devin Williams came in with two outs and, after Ohtani singled to bring the tying run to the plate, Rendon lined out to end the game.

In a twist on offense, the Brewers got the win today despite a big disparity in hits. The Angels outhit the Brewers 11-5, though the Brewers offense did have an advantage in walks taken at 5-2. Victor Caratini had three of those walks and led the offense in times on base. The Brewers also had just two extra-base hits tonight. Small ball played a major role in the Brewers taking this one.

The Brewers can go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon. Colin Rea faces Jose Suraez in the final game of the series. First pitch is at 1:10 pm.