The Brewers’ winning streak continues to grow as the team took a 5-4 win over the Braves on Wednesday night. Starter Jose Quintana provided a quality start as the foundation for a tense affair, but ultimately, the Brewers came out on top with some timely home runs and persistent offense against Braves starter Spencer Strider.
The Braves got to Quintana early as Marcell Ozuna and Sean Murphy managed back-to-back hits with two outs in the first inning. It pushed Ozzie Albies across the plate, giving the Braves an early 1-0 lead. Notably, all three Braves hits in that inning were on the first three pitches of the at-bat as they took an aggressive approach against Quintana.
Milwaukee retaliated immediately, pushing the tying run across with a two-out run of their own. Blake Perkins and Brice Turang connected for a pair of doubles on consecutive pitches, nullifying the Braves’ momentary advantage. It was a stark contrast in the game’s early going. Strider had struck out the first two batters of the inning, but Perkins’ and Turang’s hits balanced the scales with little trouble.
Collins knocked a double in the third inning, again in a two-out situation, to push Sal Frelick to third. With two runners in scoring position, Christian Yelich struck out to end the inning. The Brewers manufactured some early opportunities like this, but Strider’s strikeout stuff was effective enough to limit any breakout from Milwaukee.
It took until the fourth inning for Milwaukee to find their first lead. It couldn’t be anybody but Andrew Vaughn, one of the hottest hitters in the league, taking a slider over the left-centerfield wall for a 409-foot solo home run.
There was more opportunity that inning, after Perkins reached with no outs, but he was caught stealing, the second time that the Brewers had been caught this game. Turang ripped a liner toward right field, but first baseman Matt Olson made a leaping play. Anthony Seigler and Joey Ortiz got on base to pressure the Braves again, but Frelick hit a deep fly to halt the rally. It was another impressive showing, though, from the Brewers, as they continued to make things hard for Strider. While they were only leading 2-1, the quality of contact they managed against Strider was a promising sign for the rest of the game.
The next inning, with Collins on first, Yelich poked a ball to the left side of the infield. Due to the fielding shift, it would have been a single regardless, but third baseman Nacho Alvarez Jr. booted the ball, giving the runners a free base. Vaughn chopped a groundball to third base, another RBI for him, and a 3-1 lead for Milwaukee.
Perkins followed with the most impactful swing, taking a full-count slider deep for a two-run homer. It was Perkins’ third hit of the day, handing the Brewers a 5-1 lead. It was the final pitch for Strider as the Brewers managed 11 hard-hit balls against the Atlanta starter.
Jose Quintana was effective in the meantime, shutting down the Braves until the fifth inning when Alvarez hit a double off the top of the wall to begin the frame. A single put runners on the corners. Then, one of the most chaotic plays of the game unfolded on a grounder to Seigler. Seigler tried turning a double play, but was only able to retire the lead runner. After Vaughn received the ball, he couldn’t get the ball to home plate in time to catch Alvarez’s heads-up sprint for home. It brought the score to a 5-2 Braves lead, but with the lead still comfortably in hand, Quintana retired the next two batters, albeit with one fly ball taking a course to the warning track.
The Braves continued chipping away at the lead in the sixth inning. Quintana retired the first two batters, but Jurickson Profar, in a full count, homered on a fastball over the plate. Quintana was able to finish the inning, maintaining the 5-3 scoreline from that point, finishing with a quality start.
Quintana’s final line was six innings pitched, allowing three earned runs on seven hits. He struck out a season-high seven batters while walking none. Although three earned runs isn’t a flawless start, it was another solid showing from the veteran. While the Braves made hard contact against his sinker, his secondary offerings were mostly effective at inducing weak contact.
In the seventh inning, Collins singled and advanced on a mishandled pickoff attempt. The Brewers were unable to capitalize on it, but it marked the fifth out of those first seven innings that the Brewers scored or got a runner in scoring position. Entering the final third of the game, Milwaukee had outpaced the Braves, and now it was up to the bullpen to lock up the win.
Koenig was the first called upon to handle relief duties. He retired Alvarez on a generous strike call, a repeated event throughout this game in Milwaukee’s favor. Abner Uribe worked a clean eighth inning, striking out two.
Trevor Megill entered to close it out, but with two outs, Michael Harris II jumped on a first-pitch fastball down the middle of the plate — the very middle — for a deep home run to bring the Braves within one run. Megill rallied to strike out his final batter of the night with a triple-digit fastball, securing his 26th save on the season.
The Brewers now have Thursday off before welcoming the scuffling New York Mets to Milwaukee for three games beginning Friday night.
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