Brewers defeat the Rangers 6-2, finishing off the sweep

The theme of the road trip so far for the Brewers has been the sweeps. They started in Chicago sweeping the White Sox, who are 15.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. With some momentum behind them, they headed out west and got swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In three games, the Brewers tallied just 10 hits and three runs.

With all the momentum seemingly erased from the series in Chicago, they finished off the trip against the team with the second-best record in the American League: the Texas Rangers. The team that left Texas looks different than the one that entered. Two high-offensive outputs in the first two games gave the Brewers a chance to leave with a sweep. Some more timely hitting and strong pitching was just what they needed, as they completed the sweep with a 6-2 win.

Just like the first two games, it was the Brewers who got out in front. They were helped by Max Scherzer’s inability to find the strike zone in the third inning. After striking out Brice Turang, he walked Tyrone Taylor, allowed a single to Christian Yelich, and walked Mark Canha. With the bases loaded, he hit Willy Adames up high, allowing Taylor to score. A walk to Rowdy Tellez made it 2-0 before Andruw Monasterio ended the inning with a strikeout.

A home run from Corey Seager in the bottom of the third cut the Brewer lead in half, but Adrian Houser kept dealing from there. Not known for a high strikeout rate, Houser was sitting down the Rangers on Sunday. He recorded seven strikeouts and just the lone run in five innings pitched. The seven strikeouts are his most since he had 10 on July 22 against the Braves.

The Brewers added some insurance runs in the top of the fourth. Tyrone Taylor continues to swing a hot bat, getting on with a double with two outs. Per Mike Vassallo of the Brewers PR department, Taylor is batting .326 with three home runs and 12 RBI in his last 17 games. Taylor came home one batter later when Christian Yelich doubled to right, extending their lead to 3-2 and ending the day for Scherzer.

Taylor again made an impact at the plate in the eighth inning. After the third error of the day for Texas third baseman Ezequiel Duran and a bunt single from Brice Turang, Taylor added a pair of RBIs to his box score. He tripled to right, making the score 5-1 Brewers. He would score later in the inning on a Carlos Santana single. At the end of the day, he finished 2-for-3 with two extra-base hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored.

A couple of errors in the ninth gave the Rangers some life down 6-1, adding a run on a groundout to second to make it 6-2. With the Rangers forcing Milwaukee into a save situation, the Brewers went to Devin Williams to get the final out of the game, which came on a nice sliding grab from Christian Yelich. The 6-2 win extends the lead in the NL Central to four games over the Reds while remaining at three games over the Cubs.

Milwaukee gets an off day on Monday before welcoming the Twins to town on Tuesday.