The Milwaukee Brewers looked well on their way to picking up their first Cactus League win this afternoon when a late bullpen collapse by players you’ve probably never heard of meant another day with a zero in the win column for the Brewers.
Of course, winners and losers in the Cactus League don’t really matter at all, so who did what?
Milwaukee jumped out to an early lead in this one when, following a Joey Ortiz single (the hardest-hit ball of the game, according to Statcast, at 109.1 mph), Andrew Vaughn hit a one-out bomb to put the Brewers up 2-0.
The Brewers kept the pressure on San Diego starter JP Sears after that. Gary Sánchez was hit by a pitch and Brandon Lockridge singled to put two more on base with still just one out. A David Hamilton fielder’s choice led to the second out, but with two outs, one of the new faces on the Brewers, Jett Williams, showed off one of his gifts — speed — with a two-run triple into the gap:
Easton McGee and Abner Uribe both had nice early-inning appearances for the Brewers; Uribe gave up a bloop single to Ty France, but otherwise neither pitcher allowed anything, and they both struck out two batters. Craig Yoho pitched a scoreless third, though he didn’t strike anybody out.
The first two Brewers of the fourth inning were retired on calls that went to ABS challenges: the Padres successfully challenged a 3-2 pitch on Williams that was initially called a ball, and the next batter, Luis Lara, unsuccessfully challenged a called third strike.
The Padres got on the board in the fourth when Miguel Andujar hit a two-out solo homer off of Drew Rom, and the Brewers added one in the seventh when Lockridge — Brandon Lockridge! — hit his second homer of the spring.
That made it 5-1, and it looked like the game might end there, but in the bottom of the eighth, things went sideways. Pitcher Bjorn Johnson entered the game, walked the first batter, got a pop-out, gave up a single, walked another guy, gave up a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double, and walked another guy before getting pulled. Joshua Quezada replaced Johnson, gave up a single, balked, and gave up another single, and the Padres had six runs in with only one out. Thankfully, a double play ended the inning after that, but San Diego was up 7-5 heading into the ninth. Johnson’s line was a little scary: two hits, three walks, and five earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, which equates to an ERA of 135, if you’re curious.
Milwaukee got a couple of two-out baserunners in the ninth when Dylan O’Rae singled and Jesús Made walked; they both stole their way into scoring position, but a strikeout of Jordyn Adams ended things there, which I’m sure the players didn’t mind.
Ortiz was a notable bright spot. In addition to the single he stung in the first inning, he hit a strong double in the fifth (at 107.2 mph, it was the third-hardest-hit ball of the day), and in the third, he made this nifty play:
For those who spent large parts of last season concerned about Jackson Chourio’s plate discipline, he took two more walks today. We’ve already covered all the extra-base hits, but among the interesting prospects, Lara and Brock Wilken also hit singles. In addition to McGee, Uribe, and Yoho, the Brewers also got scoreless innings from Jacob Waguespack, Ethan Dorchies, and Wande Torres, though only Waguespack managed a three-up, three-down inning.
The 0-4 Brewers will take another shot at picking up their first win tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 p.m. CT when they take on the Athletics in Las Vegas Oakland Sacramento Kansas City Philadelphia Mesa.
