Brewers beat White Sox as offense comes through to help Tobias Myers

Box Score

The Brewers brought an offensive barrage to American Family Field on Friday night, defeating the Chicago White Sox by a final of 12-5 after both teams took and retook the lead in what appeared to be a back-and-forth battle early before Milwaukee put the game away.

The Crew struck first off starter Erick Fedde. After failing to do anything with the bases loaded and one out in the first inning, the Brewers broke through against Fedde in the second as Sal Frelick singled and came around to score on a Joey Ortiz double. Ortiz was stranded at second with back-to-back strikeouts before a lineout by William Contreras helped Fedde escape with limited damage.

The White Sox immediately responded with a rally of their own, as Paul DeJong hit a leadoff homer in the third to make it 1-1. Danny Mendick was hit by a pitch and Tommy Pham picked up a single before Corey Julks brought both home with a two-run double to make it 3-1 Chicago.

Milwaukee once again took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, with a Frelick walk and singles by both Ortiz and Blake Perkins to score Frelick to make it 3-2 before a Brice Turang sac bunt and a Contreras walk loaded the bases. Christian Yelich then singled Ortiz and Perkins home to give Milwaukee the 4-3 lead entering the fifth.

After the White Sox made it 5-4 in the fifth with three singles and a sac fly, the Brewers threatened in both the fifth and sixth but could not push anything across.

The Brewers finally got to Chicago’s bullpen in the seventh, pushing across a season-high six runs in the inning as 12 batters came to the plate. Frelick and Ortiz both reached twice in the inning, as Frelick hit a single and a double and Ortiz got a single and a walk. In that frame alone, the Brewers totaled eight hits and a walk, which increased their game total to a season-high 19 hits through just seven frames.

Milwaukee tacked on another in the eighth as Turang singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Yelich’s fifth hit of the night. Willy Adames, who had perhaps the roughest night of Milwaukee’s hitters, hit into a tough-luck force out before Jake Bauers doubled and Oliver Dunn singled to make it 12-5 before the bullpen put the game away in the ninth.

Tobias Myers went 4 ¹⁄₃ innings in the win, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk with four punchouts. Hoby Milner, Enoli Paredes, and Kevin Herget allowed just two hits and no walks over the final 4 ²⁄₃ innings, striking out six.

With 23 hits, the offense tied for the fourth-most hits in a game in franchise history and collected the most hits in a game since 2010. The Crew also broke the franchise record for most hits in a game at American Family Field/Miller Park (20 in a 17-10 loss to the Pirates in 2002). Every starter had at least one hit except Adames, who still walked twice and scored.

Looking at superlatives, every starter also recorded at least one run or one RBI besides Rhys Hoskins, who had two hits in five at-bats before being replaced by Dunn. While the Brewers left 16 runners on base, they went 9-for-27 with runners in scoring position, with the bulk of those hits coming in the seventh and eighth.

Yelich led the way with five hits in six at-bats, also leading the team with five RBIs. Contreras, Turang, and Frelick each had three hits, while Frelick led the team with three runs scored.

The Brewers will go for the series win on Saturday with Robert Gasser on the hill against Garrett Crochet for Chicago in a battle of lefties. First pitch is at 3:10 p.m.