Box Score
The Crew lost the series opener against the Atlanta Braves, 7-1. Milwaukee has now lost two straight and three of their last four.
Milwaukee managed two of their five hits off Braves starter Chris Sale in the first. Jackson Chourio led off with a base hit before being thrown out stealing second. He got a good enough jump, but appeared to slow down a bit after looking back at Braves catcher Drake Baldwin mid-attempt. Christian Yelich beat out a two-out single but was stranded after Rhys Hoskins struck out.
Milwaukee broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the third. After Joey Ortiz led off with a double, Chris Sale struck out Brice Turang on a nasty slider. Jackson Chourio then flew out, but former Brave William Contreras came through in the clutch. Contreras hit a ground ball up the middle that just snuck by a diving Nick Allen, scoring Ortiz for the first run of the game.
Brewers starter Aaron Civale allowed three hits through the first three innings, although he got out of each inning unscathed. The fourth inning was a little sketchier for Civale. He lost his control a bit, walking Matt Olson and hitting Marcell Ozuna with nobody out. Michael Harris II advanced them both with a sacrifice bunt, giving Atlanta runners on second and third with still only one away.
Civale, again, was able to bear down. Ozzie Albies popped up to third, and Civale struck out Alex Verdugo for the second time to get out of the inning.
After the Brewers went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the fourth, Civale took the mound again for the top of the fifth. He got Allen to fly out to Chourio in centerfield for the first out. The next batter, Ronald Acuña, hit an opposite-field laser into the second deck to tie the game. Civale struck out Baldwin on three pitches for the second out, but he couldn’t get through the inning. Austin Riley smoked Civale’s next pitch off the wall in right-center for a double. With cleanup hitter Matt Olson coming to the plate, manager Pat Murphy had seen enough.
Murphy brought in DL Hall, who’s been impressive since returning from a left lat strain that sidelined him until late May. The choice of Hall, specifically, was interesting given that Quinn Priester is scheduled to pitch tomorrow. The Brewers have had success recently using Hall as an opener for Priester, but it seems as if that plan is being abandoned — at least for the time being.
Hall at least seemed to be a good choice, both for lefty-on-lefty matchup reasons and for the fact that he hadn’t allowed a home run all year. That is, until his first pitch to Olson.
Hall then got Ozuna to pop up for the third out, but the damage was done. Olson’s two-run blast put the Braves ahead 3-1.
At this point in the game, Sale had settled in nicely. The stud lefty got through the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings without allowing another hit. He allowed a leadoff single to Daz Cameron in the seventh, but got Sal Frelick to ground into a forceout before Durbin and Ortiz both flew out.
Hall also settled in after the home run. He made it through the sixth and seventh pretty smoothly himself, only allowing one baserunner in each inning. Hall retired the first two batters (Ozuna and Harris II) to start the eighth, but allowed a single to Ozzie Albies. That would be it for Hall, who ended up allowing three hits in three innings pitched.
Murphy tabbed Grant Anderson to face the next batter, Eli White. Anderson worked the count to 3-2 before hanging a slider over the middle of the plate. White smacked it over the left field fence to make it 5-1, Braves. Anderson, thankfully, got Nick Allen to line out to Frelick for the third out.
Chris Sale, now at 101 pitches, came back out for the bottom of the eighth. Sale walked Brice Turang on four pitches, none of which were particularly close. He was promptly yanked for Raisel Iglesias, who shut down the top of the Brewers’ order on just eight pitches.
Atlanta loaded the bases against Anderson with one out in the top of the ninth, courtesy of two walks and an Austin Riley single. Ozuna then singled up the middle for his second hit of the day, knocking in two more insurance runs. Anderson got Harris II to pop out for the second out, but walked Ozzie Albies to load the bases again. That brought up Eli White, who’d just homered off of Anderson an inning prior. Luckily, Anderson got him to strike out to end the inning.
Milwaukee wasn’t able to muster anything on offense against Dylan Lee, in the game for Iglesias. Lee retired Hoskins, Daz Cameron, and Frelick in quick succession to end the game.
It doesn’t really matter whether the score is 10-1 or 2-1 — the Brewers aren’t going to win a lot of games only scoring one run. Milwaukee had just five hits (one in the last six innings) and struck out fifteen times today. There’s not all that much more to say.
The Crew will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s game, the second of a three-game set against the Braves. Quinn Priester will get the start for the Brewers, with Grant Holmes on the mound for Atlanta. First pitch is slated for 6:40 again.
