The Brewers and Rockies kicked off a series this afternoon at American Family Field, and while the Brewers never looked out of it and had far more hard contact in the game than the Rockies did, things just weren’t going their way. A couple of solo home runs were all that Milwaukee could muster, and the Rockies’ early offense against starter Shane Drohan held up.
It was an inauspicious start. After a Jake McCarthy strikeout started the game, Kyle Karros hit a blooper down the right field line that fell right in the middle of Luis Lara, Jake Bauers, and Brice Turang, just inside the foul line. Karros ended up on second with a double, and Cole Carrigg, up next, lined one off the wall in left field for an RBI double. Hunter Goodman was up next and hit an RBI single to left, which made it 2-0. Willi Castro was next and hit a ground ball to second that appeared to start an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, but after a Rockies challenge Castro was ruled safe at first. With two outs, Troy Johnston flew out to center to finally end the inning.
The Brewers were down early, but they’re one of the most comfortable teams in baseball when down early. This became immediately apparent when, in a very encouraging sign, Christian Yelich hit a lead-off bomb against Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano, and it was no cheapie, 413 feet over the bullpen to the opposite field.
Jackson Chourio, who was next, just missed another homer when he got a ball a little off the barrel and flew out to center. Brice Turang followed by smoking a line drive into left field for a one-out single, but Sugano retired William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell to end the inning.
Drohan’s second inning went much better than the first, a three-up, three-down inning with two strikeouts, a feat which Sugano matched in the bottom of the inning. The top of Colorado’s lineup was back at it in the third, though; McCarthy hit a triple into the right-field corner to start things, and Karros followed with a hit into right. Karros went to second but was called out—the Rockies again challenged, but it looked like Karros came off the bag and the call stood. Their lead was up to 3-1, but Drohan got the next two to end the inning.
Yelich almost went deep again with one out in the bottom of the third, but this one hung up on the left-field warning track where McCarthy made a jumping catch. Chourio and Turang hit back-to-back two-out singles, but Contreras flew out to center on a pitch that he clearly felt he should’ve done more with.
Drohan had more traffic to deal with in the fourth. Castro led off with a single, then stole second base. A groundout by Johnston advanced Castro to third, and after a Moniak sac fly, the Rockies had manufactured a run in a very Brewers-esque way. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning, the Rockies led 4-1 through four.
The Rockies went down in order in the top of the fifth, but the Brewers did in the bottom of the inning, too, even as Yelich, for the third time in the game, almost went deep with a 392-foot fly ball that was caught on the warning track in center.
Carrigg nearly went deep to right to start the sixth, but Lara made a great leaping catch up against the wall. (It wouldn’t have been a home run, but it would’ve been extra bases.) Drohan walked the next batter, Goodman, on four pitches, but Lara made another nice catch on a first-pitch fly ball down the line by Castro. A flyout by Johnston ended the inning.
Chourio hit a ball hard to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but it was caught in center for the eighth straight Brewer out. But Turang finally ended that streak when he got a hold of one for a long home run to right-center, his 15th, which made the score 4-2. Contreras followed with a single to center and Mitchell worked a seven-pitch walk, which ended the afternoon for Sugano.
With two on and one out in a two-run game, the Rockies turned to right-hander Victor Vodnik. The Brewers countered by bringing on Andrew Vaughn to pinch-hit for Lara. Vaughn worked an 0-2 count back full, but struck out, though both runners advanced to scoring position when the third strike got away from Goodman (who recovered it in time to throw Vaughn out at first). Bauers, though, grounded out with the tying run on second and the inning ended. Milwaukee shrunk the Colorado lead, but they also let a good opportunity to do more go by.
Drohan stayed on to face the left-handed Moniak to start the seventh but walked him, after which Pat Murphy called for Grant Anderson. After Anderson entered, the Rockies went to the bench for the left-handed pinch-hitter TJ Rumfield, a good hitter, who lined an RBI double into the right-field corner to get the run that they gave up in the sixth right back. Ezequiel Tovar did the Brewers a favor by popping up on a bunt attempt for the first out, and McCarthy popped out in foul territory for the second. Karros struck out to end the inning, but with three opportunities left for the Brewer offense, they were down three.
Ortiz, Hamilton, and Yelich all grounded out against Vodnik in the bottom of the seventh. Craig Yoho replaced Anderson in the eighth, and he worked around a one-out walk to pitch a scoreless inning. Contreras hit a two-out single in the bottom of the inning, but the Brewers couldn’t make anything of it. Rumfield and Tovar hit back-to-back one-out singles in the top of the ninth off of Yoho, but McCarthy flew out and Tovar was thrown out trying to steal second.
The Brewers needed three runs in the ninth off of Jordan Romano, in his seventh game with the Rockies. Vaughn started things nicely by lining a single to center on Romano’s second pitch, and after a long at-bat, Bauers singled, too. With two on and nobody out, the Brewers had the tying run at the plate. Ortiz popped out, and pinch-hitter Gary Sánchez struck out. Yelich, who’d nearly homered three times in this game, got a chance with two out, but he flew out to right and the game was over.
It was a tough day—the offense didn’t look great, but Milwaukee also had the top five and nine of the top 11 exit velocities in the game. Balls were just finding gloves. That’s baseball, sometimes.
The bright spot was Turang, who went 3-for-4 with a solo homer. Yelich added a home run, too, and generally just looked more dangerous swinging the bat than he has lately. William Contreras added two singles and the Brewers had nine hits as a team, but the two solo home runs were Milwaukee’s only runs on the day. Drohan didn’t have a great day—he finished with six innings, six hits, two walks, six strikeouts, and five earned runs allowed—but he wasn’t terrible and he gave the Brewers some length. Anderson and Yoho combined for three innings and no earned runs, though Anderson did allow his inherited runner to score.
After this evening’s Alumni Legends Game, our attentions will turn to tomorrow, when the Brewers will look to even the series in a pitching matchup between Robert Gasser and Ryan Feltner at 6:10 p.m.
