Box Score
The Milwaukee Brewers came into today’s game with an opportunity to get their first sweep of the season and to regain a winning record for the first time since early May. On paper, it seemed like they were set up well: their ace, Freddy Peralta, was on the mound while the Boston Red Sox countered with Brayan Bello, who has been just “okay” this season. But in something of a worrying trend, things didn’t come easy for Peralta, and the Brewers instead would need to rely on the late-game heroics — and a few Boston miscues — to wrap this one up. It wasn’t easy, but when it was over, the Brewers had their second straight extra-inning, walk-off win.
Peralta did himself no favors in the top of the first, a laborious near-disaster of an inning. After Jarren Duran started things with an infield single, Peralta walked Rafael Devers. He then got the first two outs by striking out Wilyer Abreu and Marcelo Mayer, but a wild pitch advanced both runners to scoring position, and a walk of Nick Sogard loaded the bases. Thankfully, Peralta got Trevor Story to pop out to end the inning, but he threw 27 pitches in the inning, many of them stressful.
Bello had no such trouble in the bottom of the first, as he went 1-2-3 against the top of the Brewers’ order.
Looking for a bounce-back inning, Peralta started well in the top of the second by getting a strikeout of David Hamilton and a lineout (albeit on hard contact) from Connor Wong. But with two outs, Peralta again struggled to put away Ceddanne Rafaela, and this time it bit him when Rafaela homered on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. The inning then should have been over after Duran hit a ground ball to the left side, but some combination of a slightly errant throw by Caleb Durbin and an inability of Jake Bauers to keep his foot on the bag (Bauers was charged with an error) allowed Duran to reach. Peralta then walked Devers on four straight pitches and worked deep into the count against Abreu before striking him out to end the inning, but 30 more pitches in the second inning left Peralta at 57 pitches through just six outs.
Milwaukee got their first baserunner of the game in the bottom of the second when Sal Frelick singled and advanced to second when Abreu biffed it in right field. Isaac Collins then nearly put the Brewers ahead with a shot to deep left center, but it was just a little too far toward center, and Rafaela made a leaping catch on the warning track; tough luck for Collins, whose 102.9-mph, 383-foot shot was given a .770 expected batting average on Statcast. Durbin also hit one pretty well, but to straightaway center, and Rafaela easily made the catch to end the inning.
Peralta, in desperate need of a quick inning, got a favor from Mayer, who grounded out on the first pitch of the frame, and Sogard then flew out to right three pitches later. Peralta again struggled to put away Story, but finally did strike him out on the eighth pitch of that at-bat. Not quite as quick as it could have been, but a badly needed clean inning.
Bauers had a really nice at-bat to lead off the bottom of the third that ended with a solo home run down the right field line — it made it out easily, the only question was whether it would hook foul, and thankfully for the Brewers, it did not. Milwaukee didn’t get anything else in that inning, but they’d tied the game at one.
Peralta’s struggles continued in the fourth. Wong and Rafaela, the eight and nine hitters in Boston’s order, hit back-to-back one-out singles before Duran lined another into right. The Brewers did get some good fortune, as Wong decided not to run on Frelick, but Rafaela didn’t realize that he had stopped. That meant that Rafaela was caught between second and third with nowhere to go (Duran advanced to second on the play), and there were two outs, though Devers was up with two runners in scoring position. Devers and Peralta battled to a full count, but Devers won this one and knocked a two-RBI single up the middle. One wonders if attacking Devers with first base open was the right decision in that situation — the last pitch of the at-bat was a pretty hittable fastball over the plate — but c’est la vie. Abreu, the next batter, grounded out, and the inning was over with Boston up 3-1 and Peralta at 95 pitches.
With one out in the fourth, Frelick knocked another single, his second of the game, but Collins and Durbin grounded out to end the inning.
To the surprise of many, Peralta returned for the fifth inning despite a pitch count near 100, and frankly, no evidence that he had anything working. It took him nine pitches to get Mayer to hit a weak groundout, Sogard went after a first-pitch middle-middle fastball but flew out to right, and Story grounded out sharply to Turang.
Peralta managed to get through five innings and kept things relatively in control with three runs allowed, but it was a capital-S Struggle for him today. The inefficiency that has plagued him and frustrated fans (and coaches, surely) for years reared its ugly head in a major way, for the second consecutive start. It could have been far worse, as Peralta finished with six hits, three walks, three runs, and six strikeouts in five innings, but for most of that time, he was flirting with disaster. It took him 108 pitches, a season high, to complete those five innings.
Bauers led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and advanced to second on an Ortiz bunt. Turang then hit a sinking liner to left that Duran should have caught, but he had trouble reading the fly ball and ended up dropping it. Bauers, who assumed it would be caught, had to stop at third, but there were runners on the corners with just one out for Chourio. With Chourio at the plate, Turang stole second, which eliminated the double play possibility. Chourio ended up with an RBI groundout on a check swing that just stayed fair, and that ended the day for Bello, as Boston brought in the lefty Brennan Bernardino to face Christian Yelich. Bernardino, who struck Yelich out last night, did so again today, and Turang was stranded at third. But Milwaukee had halved Boston’s lead and trailed by just one after five.
Nick Mears was on for the top of the sixth and performed nicely, with a three-up, three-down inning. That set up a momentous inning for the Brewer offense.
William Contreras led off with a walk against new pitcher Hunter Dobbins, and Frelick followed with his third hit of the game, another bloop single. Then, on a fly ball to center from Collins, Frelick aggressively tried to tag and advance to second behind Contreras (who less aggressively tagged and headed for third). It was close at second base, and Frelick was initially called out, but a Brewers challenge overturned that play. After the lengthy delay, Durbin jumped on Dobbins’ next pitch and lined a double over third base that, because of the successful challenge, gave the Brewers the lead.
Mears continued in the seventh, now protecting a 4-3 lead. He got Duran and Devers to start the inning, but left a 3-2 fastball over the middle of the plate to Abreu, and he tied the game. Mayer grounded out three pitches later, and the inning was over, but the Brewers’ lead was short-lived.
Dobbins continued in the bottom of the inning and walked Yelich with two outs, but was otherwise flawless. Abner Uribe was Milwaukee’s choice in the top of the eighth, and he hit the leadoff batter, Sogard, with a 2-2 slider. Story bunted him over to second, but Uribe struck out Hamilton and pinch-hitter Abraham Toro to end the inning.
Milwaukee was unable to get anything in the bottom of the eighth, which was Dobbins’ third inning of work. The Red Sox finally got Frelick out, as he struck out looking (on a close pitch), and Collins grounded out. Durbin looked to get a two-out rally going with his second double down the left field line of the game, and Bauers was intentionally walked to bring up Ortiz. He nearly came through (Ortiz has quietly looked a lot better lately, folks) but had tough luck: a 110-mph line drive to left hung up just high enough for Duran to make the catch for the third out. That ball had a .930 xBA on Statcast.
Jared Koenig, who threw only eight pitches yesterday, was on for the ninth in the tie ballgame, even with Trevor Megill on a day’s rest (with Duran and Devers due up second and third, you could understand the thinking with the left-handed Koenig). Rafaela singled on a ground ball with eyes to start the frame, but he was erased when Duran hit a soft grounder to the left side (hit too weakly to turn two). Devers also grounded softly to third and was retired at first base, with Duran advancing to second with two outs. The Brewers opted to intentionally walk pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder — owner of a .981 OPS through 19 games — and instead faced a different pinch hitter, rookie Kristian Campbell. Koenig, though, lost his control and walked Campbell on four pitches to load the bases for Sogard, but Koenig recovered nicely and struck him out to end the inning.
For the second straight day, the Brewers would face Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. Yesterday, they got him for the tying run to send the game to extra innings. With one out, Chourio nearly ended the game (or at least into scoring position), but Duran made a difficult catch running backwards and leaping to steal a double. That brought Yelich to the plate with two outs, and while he couldn’t recreate last night’s heroics, he did get his second hit in as many days off of Chapman with an infield single that deflected off Chapman’s glove. That gave Contreras, mired in an 0-for-18 slump, a chance. Contreras made good contact and hit it toward the right-field gap, but not far enough away from Refsnyder, and he made the catch to send this game to extra innings. After Ortiz’s liner in the eighth, it was the second potential game-winning hit in as many innings that had an EV over 100 and an xBA of .440 or higher that didn’t drop in.
Tyler Alexander came on to pitch the top of the 10th, suggesting that Trevor Megill, who has pitched a lot lately but not yesterday, was not available. Alexander immediately fell behind Story before giving up a leadoff single, putting runners at the corners. Hamilton then grounded into a fielder’s choice (the Brewers tried but couldn’t quite turn two) that scored the run from third, and they appeared to have him picked off, but Bauers’ throw to second base wasn’t great, and it got past Turang, allowing Hamilton to get to second safely. Alexander, though, struck out both of the next two batters looking, and the Brewers headed into the bottom of the 10th down just one.
Boston’s pitcher for the 10th was Justin Slaten, and the Brewers replaced Contreras, the ghost runner, with Daz Cameron. Frelick, already with three hits on the day, batted first. He fell behind 1-2 and battled, fouling off five straight pitches after taking ball one, and then beat Slaten to the bag on a weak grounder to first. It would have been a productive out even if it had been an out, as Cameron easily advanced to third, but an infield hit was even better.
That brought Collins to the plate, and he hit a grounder to second with the infield pulled in. It looked like Cameron was toast at the plate, but Campbell, in at second after pinch-hitting in the ninth, made a terrible throw to home, which not only allowed Cameron to score the tying run but also allowed both runners to advance, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. The batter was Durbin, who already had two doubles and a couple of RBIs in the game: he hit a fly ball into center that was just deep enough to score Frelick from third, and for the second time in two days, the Brewers walked off the Red Sox in 10 innings.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Red Sox in a series that seemed oddly relatable for fans of the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers. For the Brewers, though, they had their first sweep of the season and their fourth straight win, and found themselves over .500 for the first time in over three weeks. Perhaps more importantly, 2024 Brewers vibes seem to be creeping their way into the team.
For the offense, the two guys who sparked the 10th-inning rally were the stars of the show. Frelick finished with four hits (all singles) and two runs scored, while Durbin went 2-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs, and the game-winning sac fly. Bauers had a sketchy game in the field, but he hit his fourth homer of the season and walked twice.
Peralta’s start was, again, rough, but Milwaukee got scoreless innings from Uribe and Koenig, while Alexander did a good recovery job to get out of the 10th without too much damage, and Mears allowed only the solo homer in two innings.
The Brewers finally have an off day tomorrow, their first in two weeks, and then they start a series in Philadelphia on Friday, the start of a pretty brutal stretch of games (their next series are against the Phillies, Reds, Padres, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, and Twins, all of whom are .500 or better except the Braves, who have been much better lately after a terrible start). We’ll learn a lot about this team over the next three weeks, but for now, the feelings around the team are as good as they’ve been since early in the season.
