Quintana struggles as Marlins jump on Brewers’ mistakes in 7-4 loss

Box Score

In a busy game with the teams combining for 22 hits, Milwaukee fell short in a 7-4 loss. The Marlins ultimately made the most of a few mistakes from the Brewers while Milwaukee’s offense struggled to manufacture many opportunities late in the game.

Milwaukee starter Jose Quintana had moments where his secondary stuff looked effective, but ultimately, some poorly placed pitches gave the Marlins enough of an opportunity to score five runs over five innings.

The first inning seemed to be a portent of good things for Milwaukee with Joey Ortiz making an impressive play on the run and William Contreras catching a runner stealing, but by the third inning, things started to slowly unravel.

Dane Myers led off the third with a single and stole second base. This time, Contreras’ throw was a few feet short. Now with a runner in scoring position, Quintana left a sinker over the plate to Javier Sanoja, who hit the ball to left field. Isaac Collins tried making a desperate attempt, but the ball skidded by and to the wall, providing the Marlins with their first run of the game. The Brewers were able to relay to third base to catch Sanoja pushing for a triple, but Miami had already notched the run.

In the fourth inning, Quintana again left a sinker in the zone that Agustin Ramirez took deep. Quintana gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases, but this time he was able to limit the Marlins to that single run by Ramirez.

The fifth inning brought more trouble as Brice Turang made a rare error against the leadoff batter. Xavier Edwards followed with a single to put two runners on base with no outs.

Quintana rallied to record two easy flyouts, one an infield pop-up, the other a lazy fly to right field, but couldn’t escape the inning. Heriberto Hernandez took a changeup floating near the middle of the zone over the left field fence to give the Marlins a 5-3 advantage by the time Quintana left the game.

Milwaukee’s starter finished his day with a 10-pitch at-bat, catching Eric Wagaman looking on a generous strike call, but it wasn’t an impressive stat line. Across five innings, Quintana allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits, walking two, and striking out two.

Meanwhile, the Brewers’ offense was putting together some difficult runs, displaying a tenacity in two-out situations. In the second inning, Andrew Vaughn led off with a double and would eventually advance to third base. Caleb Durbin came through with a single up the middle with two outs to tack on the Brewers’ first run of the day.

In the bottom of the fourth, Jackson Chourio led off with a double, securing his 19-game hitting streak. With two outs, Collins hit a fly ball that should have been an out, but an error from Kyle Stowers gave the Brewers an extra out. After Chourio raced around the bases, Brice Turang ripped a double to the right field wall to give the Brewers a temporary 3-2 lead, but Hernandez’s three-run homer in the next inning left Milwaukee trailing 5-3. Chourio very nearly hit a home run in the bottom of the fifth, but it settled into Stowers’ glove on the warning track.

Stowers would remain at the center of attention with a leadoff double against reliever Grant Anderson in the top of the sixth. Myers followed up with a full-count home run, a 428-foot bomb to left field, as Miami soared ahead to a 7-3 lead.

Anderson finished off the sixth inning, and Aaron Ashby allowed a walk over two scoreless innings. In the ninth, Jared Koenig also kept a clean bill, with the help of a double play. Although the bullpen settled the final third of the game, it was a serious deficit if Milwaukee had any hope of winning.

But the Brewers were sure to make some noise after floundering without a runner in scoring position since the fourth inning. Vaughn led off the bottom of the ninth with a first-pitch home run, taking a fastball from Tyler Phillips, who had already pitched three scoreless innings, over the centerfield wall. It was a no-doubter as Milwaukee clawed back to a 7-4 deficit.

With two outs, Durbin jumped on another first-pitch fastball to keep the game alive. It was Durbin’s second hit of the game, giving him a .311 batting average in July.

Anthony Seigler came out as a pinch-hitter for Ortiz. Phillips, on his 43rd pitch of the game, caught Seigler looking for the strikeout to finish it off. The Marlins have been a surprising team in recent weeks, but it seemed like a game where Milwaukee cost themselves in some important moments.

The Brewers will look to salvage the series finale tomorrow afternoon with first pitch at 1:10 p.m. CT. That one will be on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.