Brewers lose to Giants 13-2

Result

Colin Rea and the Milwaukee Brewers faced the San Francisco Giants and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell tonight. Milwaukee, who won the first game of the series on Tuesday, hoped to clinch the series with a win in game two. But it was not to be: The Giants ran over Rea and built a huge lead early, Snell didn't let the Brewers get back in the game, and this game quickly became a laughing stock.

Snell managed an easy first inning with three up and three downs. Rea did not. Tyler Fitzgerald hit him for a leadoff double and he advanced to third base on a hard flyout from Mike Yasztremski to deep center. Heliot Ramos worked a walk to put runners on the corners with one out, but Rea got Matt Chapman to pop out. That gave Rea a chance to get out of the inning, but while Ramos was walking, Contreras missed a low fastball that went to the backstop. Fitzgerald scored and on the next pitch, LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a single to right that scored Ramos. But that wasn't the end: Jerar Encarnacion hit a flyball that didn't seem to offer much but flew over the high wall in right field. The wind provided an assist. 4-0 Giants.

Gary Sánchez had to break out of a big hole against an elite pitcher and got off to a good start with a single to left to start the second inning. Snell scored the next two runs when Willy Adames (after taking a 3-0 lead) retired and Sal Frelick singled to shallow center field. Rhys Hoskins walked with two outs and Joey Ortiz also took a 3-0 lead, fouling off ball after ball before walking the 10th pitch of the at-bat. At this point, Snell had thrown 45 pitches and the Brewers had the bases loaded, but it was a tough match for left-hander Brice Turang, who retired after three pitches. They made Snell work hard but had nothing to show for it and the Giants still led by four runs.

After the long break, Patrick Bailey jumped on Rea's first pitch of the second inning and hit it into the left field corner, giving the Giants their second leadoff double in two innings. Brett Wisely followed with a bloop to left that landed in front of Jackson Chourio; Bailey couldn't score, but the runners were on the corners without any of the first in order out. Fitzgerald didn't let up: He hit a ball hard off the wall in right that scored Bailey and put runners on second and third base. Just in case the Brewers were anticipating a chance to win, Yastrzemski hit a shallow sweeper over the wall in right for a three-run home run. (The pitch was about six inches too deep outside the zone. This game is so stupid sometimes.)

It was 8-0 before Rea got the first out of the second inning. Rea just couldn't find it tonight; a combination of bad luck (the passed ball from Contreras, the fumble from Wisely, Yaz's home run on a ball way out of the zone) and an aggressive style of play that punished Rea for missing the corners spoiled his night. On only the second of 13 consecutive days of play, Rea was asked to take over some innings, and he did what he could.

The Brewers got one back in the third inning (you have to start somewhere) when Blake Perkins and Contreras hit back-to-back doubles. The Giants added a few more in the fourth when Fitzgerald hit a single, Yaz hit a ball over Perkins' head in center (and was thrown out trying to extend his double into a triple), and Chapman hit a 108 mph sprint to left. Rea got the last out of the fourth inning and his day was over, with Milwaukee trailing 10-1.

Pat Murphy used the big deficit as a chance to get some of his regulars going. Isaac Collins pinch-hittered for Turang to start the fifth inning and struck out, then Garrett Mitchell pinch-hittered for Chourio and doubled. (Mitchell is hot, folks. The broadcast informs us that this is the first hit by a left-hander off a Snell curveball all season.) Perkins and Contreras struck out to end the inning.

The struggling Elvis Peguero was the next pitcher for the Brewers, and behind him was a completely new defense: Andruw Monasterio was at third base, Ortiz was shortstop, and Collins was at second base. Eric Haase took over at catcher. Frelick moved to left, Mitchell took over at right. The rest of the team stayed in Maryvale and did light training in the field against players in the minor league training camp.

Peguero was in trouble right away, having loaded all the bases with one out, but he struck out Fitzgerald and was lucky when Yaz landed another rocket hit that stayed in the air long enough for Perkins to catch.

The Giants had no reason to push Snell in this game, so he was replaced after the fifth inning in favor of Austin Warren. The Brewers loaded the bases against Warren but were unable to score. San Francisco was able to score a (unearned) run against Peguero in the bottom of the inning, making it 11-1. Milwaukee managed a run in the top of the seventh inning after Mitchell got on base on an error (pretty hard – I thought it should have been an infield hit and an error that allowed him to advance to second base) and Monasterio threw him in with a solid single.

Hoby Milner had his best outing in a long time. Jake Bauers was the pitcher in the eighth inning. He got hit pretty hard and allowed a few more runs, but also got his first strikeout of his career (as a pitcher).

No Brewer had more than one hit. Doubles were hit by Perkins, Contreras and Mitchell. Contreras had his 84th RBI, Monasterio his 14th. Rea's ERA for the season rose by almost half a run, from 3.72 to 4.21.

It was a tough game, but these things happen and it's OK as long as the Brewers can turn things around. They'll try to do that tomorrow night at 8:45 p.m. when Frankie Montas faces Hayden Birdsong in the series finale.