Brewers take series opener against Rockies, 10-6

Box Score

Milwaukee took today’s series opener against the Colorado Rockies, 10-6, behind a well-balanced offensive performance.

Brewers’ starter Jose Quintana got into a little bit of trouble in the first after retiring the Rockies’ leadoff man, Mickey Moniak. Quintana walked Jordan Beck and gave up a single to Thairo Estrada, putting runners on first and second with one out. Thankfully, the veteran lefty got Michael Toglia to strike out before inducing a soft pop up off the bat of Kyle Farmer.

Sal Frelick got things started in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single off of Colorado’s starter, Kyle Freeland. Unfortunately, he was thrown out trying to steal second. Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich both struck out to end the inning.

Colorado went three-up, three-down against Quintana in the top of the second. In the bottom of the frame, Milwaukee managed to put runners on first and second with only one out, but Brice Turang grounded into a double play to keep the score tied at 0-0.

Quintana gave up a leadoff double to Rockies shortstop Ryan Ritter in the top of the third, but retired the next three batters to get out of the inning. Milwaukee failed to score again in the bottom of the third, despite a Caleb Durbin single and a walk from Chourio (which is thankfully becoming an increasingly common occurrence).

The floodgates finally opened for the Brewers’ offense in the fourth. After Quintana retired the side in order, William Contreras — leading off — singled sharply to center field. Isaac Collins then singled, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Rhys Hoskins then walked, loading the bases for Turang.

Turang, who grounded into a double play his last at-bat, redeemed himself with a single into right field — scoring Contreras and Collins to make it 2-0 Milwaukee.

That brought up Caleb Durbin with runners at first and second. Durbin flew out, as did Ortiz after him, as the rally looked to be coming to a halt. Sal Frelick thought otherwise. He singled to right field on a ground ball that Moniak misplayed, allowing Hoskins — who isn’t exactly a burner — to score standing up. The next hitter was Jackson Chourio with runners on the corners. Chourio hit an absolute laser over the right field fence to make it a six run inning.

Christian Yelich then hit a high fly ball to centerfield, but it wasn’t nearly high enough to avoid the glove of center fielder Brenton Doyle. Still, the damage was done. Milwaukee led 6-0 going into the top of the fifth.

Colorado almost immediately got a few of those runs back. Doyle and Braxton Fulford led off with singles, putting runners on the corners for Ryan Ritter. Ritter hit a ground ball to Turang at second, whose flip to Ortiz went wide of the bag. Ortiz managed to corral the errant throw while keeping his foot on the base and pivoting to throw to first. The throw beat Ritter to first, but Hoskins couldn’t handle it. Doyle made it home safely to make the score 6-1.

Quintana struck out Mickey Moniak looking for the second out, but couldn’t get out of the inning as Jordan Beck squared up a Quintana fastball for a double. With runners on second and third, Thairo Estrada singled to left — scoring both runners. Michael Toglia then grounded out to end the inning. Still, Colorado had managed to cut the Brewers’ lead in half.

Colorado pulled Freeland in favor of sidearmer Jimmy Herget. Contreras, leading off the inning, hit a little dribbler to the left side of the mound. Herget airmailed the throw to first and Contreras took second. Isaac Collins then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Contreras again.

Herget, with a runner on third, decided to switch back to his windup. However, perhaps assuming pitching from the windup with a runner on third was common practice, he neglected to inform any of the umpires. Herget was promptly called for a balk and was furious, stepping off the mound and yelling at first base ump Paul Clemons. Clemons then started yelling back at Herget, prompting Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer to come out and calm them both down.

After the balk, Herget bore down — striking out Hoskins and inducing a groundout off the bat of Turang to end the inning. In the top of the sixth, Quintana was looking pretty fatigued. He walked McMahon with one out, but got Doyle to fly out for the second. Manager Pat Murphy was no doubt hoping that Quintana would be able to make it through six, but Fulford lined his 105th pitch of the night off of the left field wall for an RBI double.

That would be it for Quintana. His final statline: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB. Murphy called on Nick Mears to get out of the jam, which has become a specialty of his this year. Mears delivered, striking out Ritter on three pitches to end the inning with the score still 7-4.

Durbin led off the bottom of the sixth with a double that was about three inches from being a home run. Joey Ortiz then walked, and it looked like the Brewers were on the precipice of breaking the game wide open. Unfortunately, Frelick struck out swinging for the first out. Herget then got Chourio to fly out.

Schaeffer brought Ryan Rolison, a lefty, in to face Christian Yelich with two-on and two-out. Rolison got Yeli to ground out, escaping the inning unscathed.

Mears stayed in the game to face the top of the Rockies’ order. He retired Moniak, but allowed singles to Beck and Estrada to put runners on first and second with only one out. Both runners took off on the first pitch to the next hitter, Toglia.

Contreras threw down to second, but the throw was wide of the bag. Ortiz, sprinting over to cover the base, leapt to catch the ball and applied an acrobatic midair tag to Estrada’s head. Words don’t do it justice — watch for yourself. Incredible play from Ortiz.

Milwaukee went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh, keeping the score at 7-4. Jared Koenig entered for the eighth and immediately allowed a single to Kyle Farmer. Ryan McMahon then hit a blooper to shallow left field. Ortiz, ranging back, came really close to making another highlight play with a last-second diving attempt. Unfortunately, the ball dropped into the outfield grass for a single and giving Colorado two runners on yet again.

The next hitter, Brenton Doyle, flew out to the warning track on a ball that — judging by Koenig’s facial expressions — he thought was gone. Manager Pat Murphy decided to try and stop the Rockies’ momentum by pulling Koenig in favor of Abner Uribe. The next batter, Braxton Fulford, hit a line drive to the gap. Isaac Collins laid out for it in what would have been a truly spectacular catch, but the ball bounced in and out of his glove.

Farmer and McMahon both scored, bringing the Rockies within one run. After that, Uribe struck out Ritter and Moniak for the final two outs of the inning. Turang and Durbin singled back-to-back to start the bottom of the eighth. Rolison was promptly pulled for Jake Bird, who came in to face Joey Ortiz. Ortiz showed bunt on the first two pitches — both strikes.

After taking ball one, Ortiz lined out to left without advancing Turang and Durbin. Frelick walked on a 3-2 pitch to bring up Chourio, who hit a weak ground ball to shortstop on the first pitch. Ritter took the force at second, allowing Turang to score and giving the Brewers a much needed insurance run. Christian Yelich, the next hitter, wasn’t satisfied. He hit a high fly ball off the wall to clear the bases, making it 10-6 Milwaukee.

William Contreras then grounded out to Ritter to end the inning, but — again — the damage was done. Grant Anderson made short work of the Rockies offense in the top of the ninth, and the Brewers came away with a victory in the first game of the series. Every Brewer hitter save for Ortiz had a hit, and four (Turang, Durbin, Frelick, and Contreras) recorded multiple. Milwaukee is now a season-high ten games above .500.

Quinn Priester will get the start for the Brewers as they look to win their fourth straight game. First pitch is slated for 3:10 p.m.