Brewers drop series finale to Rangers, marking first sweep since March

The Brewers dropped another tough one on Wednesday afternoon, as the Texas Rangers were able to complete the sweep in their home ballpark behind some timely hitting.

Things got started quickly, as Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio slugged back-to-back solo homers off Texas starter Merrill Kelly. Turang’s went 435 feet to center, while Chourio hit a 409-foot liner over the wall in left.

Christian Yelich nearly made it three bombs in a row, as he hit a liner to center that traveled 403 feet and left the bat at nearly 111 mph but was caught by the pesky Michael Helman on the warning track. Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick followed with a groundout and a strikeout, respectively.

Freddy Peralta held the lead for Milwaukee in the first, picking up a pair of strikeouts as he worked a 1-2-3 inning against the top of the Rangers’ order.

Unfortunately for Peralta, after a quick 1-2-3 Brewers’ half of the inning, he allowed his first run in 30 1/3 innings, as Jake Burger drilled a solo shot to center to cut the deficit to 2-1. Peralta retired the next three in order, including another pair of strikeouts.

After a leadoff single by Joey Ortiz went for naught in the third, the Rangers put together a bit of a rally as Peralta’s wildness reared its ugly head. Helman reached on a one-out single, and Peralta followed that by walking both Josh Smith (though two of the balls probably could’ve gone for strikes) and Wyatt Langford to load the bases for Joc Pederson.

Pederson got into a 3-1 count, but ultimately hit a grounder to Turang at short that forced him to his left. He made the throw to second for the second out of the inning, but the relay to first wasn’t in time and Helman came across to tie the game at 2-2. With Burger up next, Peralta balked, allowing Smith to score from third and giving Texas a 3-2 lead. No further damage would happen there, as Burger popped out to end the frame.

Looking for a response in the fourth, Bauers and Frelick started the inning with a pair of outs. Caleb Durbin, Blake Perkins, and Danny Jansen followed with consecutive singles to load the bases for Ortiz, who now holds the franchise record for most plate appearances with the bases loaded in a season at 28. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to bring anyone home, as he grounded into a force out to end the inning. That puts him at 5-for-27 with a walk, a homer, and 16 RBIs in those spots this season. Not ideal.

Peralta bounced back to work a clean fourth, allowing a pair of two-out singles but also striking out two more, bringing his total to seven on the day. Turang led off the top of fifth with a single and then stole second with one out, but he wouldn’t move from there as Kelly was able to set Chourio, Yelich, and Bauers down without much trouble.

In the bottom half of the inning, Peralta allowed a leadoff single to Smith before striking out Langford, though Smith stole second on the final pitch of the at-bat. Pederson then flew out, but Burger slugged his second homer of the day over the wall in center, extending Texas’ lead to 5-2. With Peralta at 101 pitches, Pat Murphy stuck with his ace, who went into a lengthy 12-pitch battle with Josh Jung that ended with another strikeout.

Peralta needed a whopping 113 pitches to make it through five innings in one of his roughest starts this season. The five earned runs mark just the second time this season Peralta has allowed more than four runs, as he also allowed five against the Cubs in late July. He struck out nine, pushing his season total to 185 with (probably) three starts left. He allowed those five runs on six hits — including two homers — and a pair of walks.

On the other side, Kelly was looking to keep things rolling, as he entered the sixth at just 74 pitches on the afternoon despite a rough start. The Brewers, though, finally found their bats again. Durbin started things off with a one-out single, and Jansen followed with a two-out single to put runners at the corners for Rhys Hoskins, who entered as a pinch-hitter for Ortiz.

Hoskins got ahead 3-0 in the count and, with the green light, hit a single into left to bring Durbin home and close the deficit to 5-3. The hit was also Hoskins’ first since his return yesterday. That marked the end of the day for Kelly, who was replaced by former Brewer Hoby Milner, while Hoskins was replaced by Andruw Monasterio as the tying run at first.

Turang stepped up to the plate as the go-ahead run, falling behind 0-2 before grounding out back to Milner on a 1-2 pitch to end the inning. The Brewers got one back, but they’d need to do some more work against the Texas bullpen to avoid the sweep.

Former Ranger Grant Anderson replaced Peralta on the bump for the sixth, while Monasterio stayed in the game as the shortstop. Anderson worked a quick frame, setting the Rangers down in order — on just nine pitches — for the first time since the first inning.

The Brewers went down in order against Robert Garcia in the top of the seventh, with Andrew Vaughn entering to replace Bauers at first after he got a pinch-hit appearance with two outs. For Milwaukee, Rob Zastryzny got the ball looking to keep the deficit at two. He did just that, working around a two-out walk to send it to the eighth at 5-3.

Frelick started things off with a single, but he was quickly erased as Durbin grounded into a double play. Perkins then struck out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers tacked on another with a little help from Milwaukee’s defense. Erick Fedde replaced Zastryzny and walked Burger to begin the frame. After a pop-up by Jung, Fedde induced a double-play ball from Kyle Higashioka. Instead of turning it, however, Durbin bobbled the ball at third, and both runners advanced safely. Fedde walked Alejandro Osuna to load the bases, and former Brewer Rowdy Tellez grounded out to score Texas’ sixth run of the game for a 6-3 lead. Fedde escaped the inning with another pop-up, but the unearned run made it a three-run deficit.

Texas’ closer, Shawn Armstrong, remained in the game after entering in the eighth, striking out Jansen to begin the ninth. Isaac Collins entered to pinch-hit for Monasterio and drew a walk to force Bruce Bochy to call on Phil Maton to replace Armstrong with the tying run now on deck and Turang at the plate.

Maton set Turang down on three pitches, and after a seven-pitch battle, Chourio hit a cue shot over to Burger at first for the last out.

It was another disappointing day for the Brewers, as they couldn’t come through in the clutch despite outhitting the Rangers 11-6 on the day. The loss marked Milwaukee’s first sweep at the hands of an opponent since they lost their first three games of the season to the Yankees in New York.

Turang, Jansen, and Durbin each had a pair of hits today, with Turang and Chourio each hitting solo homers in the first. The other RBI came courtesy of Hoskins, his 43rd of the year. Also, Chourio’s homer marked 20 for the season, giving him his second consecutive 20 homer season at just 21 years old. He’s also just two steals away from another 20-20 season.

Anderson, Zastryzny, and Fedde each worked an inning in relief, with only Fedde allowing an unearned run thanks to Durbin’s error.

The Brewers get the day off on Thursday before returning to action on Friday night at home, when they’ll welcome the Cardinals to town for the last time this year. First pitch in that one is set for 7:10 p.m. CT, with Quinn Priester slated to match up with Andre Pallante for St. Louis.

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