Brewers use 7-run third inning to complete sweep of Royals

Box Score

The Brewers completed a sweep of the Royals on Sunday afternoon, powered by a huge third inning and a strong relief appearance from usual-starter Eric Lauer at American Family Field.

Salvador Perez homered for the second consecutive day in the first inning, giving the Royals a quick 1-0 lead. Christian Yelich hit his third homer in two days to lead off the bottom half of the inning, tying it up 1-1 after the first.

The Royals put together some offense in the second, as Nick Pratto singled before Michael Massey walked and Bobby Witt Jr. drove both home with a two-out double to make it 3-1. Kansas City would score again in the third, as Perez singled, MJ Melendez singled, Pratto walked, and Hunter Dozier hit a sac fly to make it 4-1 Royals.

In the bottom half of the inning, Tyrone Taylor and Joey Wiemer both walked before Yelich singled Taylor home to make it 4-2 with runners at the corners. Yelich stole second during Jesse Winker’s at-bat, and two errors by the Royals allowed both him and Wiemer to score to knot the score up at 4-4 without a ball put in play.

Winker walked, Rowdy Tellez singled, Owen Miller doubled home Winker, and Brice Turang capped off the big inning with a three-run homer off reliever Jose Cuas to make it 8-4 Milwaukee.

Both offenses went quiet from there, as Colin Rea left to make way for Lauer out of the bullpen with two outs in the fourth. Rea finished his day going 3 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Lauer looked strong for most of his outing, going 5 ¹⁄₃ innings and allowing two runs on two solo homers by Dozier and Witt Jr. in the ninth inning, which marked the only hits for Kansas City off of Lauer. He also walked two and struck out six.

Milwaukee’s only other run came on a pinch-hit solo shot by Mike Brosseau in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to 9-4. The Royals’ two ninth-inning homers made it 9-6 as the Brewers successfully completed the sweep on Mother’s Day.

Despite scoring nine runs, Milwaukee’s offense had just six hits and three walks. Yelich was the only player to have multiple hits with his single and homer, while Brosseau, Tellez, Miller, and Turang had one hit each.

The Brewers return to action on Monday night in St. Louis against the last-place Cardinals. Freddy Peralta gets the ball for Milwaukee and Jack Flaherty starts for the Cardinals. First pitch is at 6:45 p.m. on Bally Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.