Brewers win Friday night thriller over Rangers, 9-8

Box Score

The Brewers snuck away with a victory on Friday night, beating the Texas Rangers 9-8 in a thriller sparked by three 3-run innings from Milwaukee.

After a quiet start to the game, the Brewers got on the board first with a big third inning. Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit back-to-back doubles to start the scoring, followed by a double by Mark Canha to score Contreras and make it 2-0. Canha then came across on a single by Willy Adames and the lead grew to 3-0.

The Rangers answered right back in the bottom of the fourth, as Corey Seager walked and scored on a Nathaniel Lowe homer to cut the lead to 3-2. Texas didn’t stop there, as Mitch Garver homered two batters later to tie it up at 3-3.

Texas took the lead two innings later as Seager doubled and then scored on a single by Adolis Garcia. The Brewers rallied back in the seventh inning, starting with a Yelich walk and a Contreras single to put runners at first and second with no outs. Carlos Santana then took Josh Sborz deep, giving Milwaukee a 6-4 lead.

The Brewers added to the lead in the eighth, as Brice Turang singled and Tyrone Taylor doubled. Texas then intentionally walked Yelich to load the bases for Contreras, who faced Grant Anderson in a righty-on-righty matchup. Conteras won the battle, hitting a two-RBI single to extend the lead to 8-4. Canha drove in the ninth Brewers run later in the inning, beating out a double play to make it 9-4.

Andrew Chafin entered to close out the game with a 9-4 lead in the ninth, but the Rangers mounted a rally of their own. Garver walked, Robbie Grossman doubled, J.P. Martinez grounded out, and Ezequiel Duran doubled to cut it to 9-6 with a runner on second and one out.

Devin Williams took over for the save opportunity, allowing a double to Travis Jankowski to make it 9-7 and putting the tying runner at the plate. With the top of the Rangers order up to bat, the Brewers defense went into high gear to put the game away. First, Andruw Monasterio made a nice play on a grounder to third from Marcus Semien, allowing Jankowski to score but getting the second out of the inning with a 9-8 lead.

To close out the game, Seager hit a deep fly ball to center, but Sal Frelick made a nice jumping grab at the wall to end the game and allow the Brewers to escape with a win.

Brandon Woodruff struggled in his start, allowing four runs on three hits (including two homers) and two walks with four strikeouts across 5 ¹⁄₃ innings. Elvis Peguero pitched ²⁄₃ scoreless while Abner Uribe and Hoby Milner both tossed a scoreless inning. Williams got his 29th save of the season despite allowing an earned run in the ninth.

Four Brewers reached base at least three times, with Turang going 3-for-3 with a walk, Yelich going 2-for-3 with two walks, Contreras going 3-for-5, and Adames going 3-for-5. Santana and Contreras had three RBIs apiece while Yelich led the team with three runs scored.

Milwaukee returns to action Saturday evening against the same Rangers squad, as Freddy Peralta gets the start opposite Dane Dunning. First pitch is at 3:05 p.m. CT.