Trio of home runs leads Brewers to 11-4 win over Rangers

As Opening Day approaches, the Brewers are making their final tune-ups before the start of the season. With Brandon Woodruff’s status still uncertain, he made a crucial start this evening. It ended up being the offense that dominated the game, as the Brewers defeated the Rangers 11-4.

The Brewers got on the board quickly. Sal Frelick led off the game with a walk, stole second, and scored on an Andrew Vaughn single. In the next inning, back-to-back home runs from Gary Sánchez and Luis Rengifo added two more runs. David Hamilton set up another run with a single and steal, and Joey Ortiz drove him in with a single. After two innings, the Brewers had a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Brewers unleashed a barrage of runs. Vaughn led off the inning with a single, then Garrett Mitchell reached on a fielding error. Sánchez drew a walk to load the bases. After Rengifo flew out to center, Brandon Lockridge continued his strong spring with a two-run double. Hamilton followed that up with another two-run double to give Milwaukee eight runs on the evening. That chased Rangers starter Jacob Latz from the game, and Dane Acker entered in relief. After a Frelick groundout and Ortiz walk, Christian Yelich punctuated the inning with a three-run home run. After the first three innings, the Brewers had scored 11 runs.

Meanwhile, Woodruff started the night with two 1-2-3 innings, striking out two. That started to unravel in the third inning. The Rangers got their first run from a Tyler Wade single and Alejandro Osuna RBI double. Woodruff recovered with strikeouts of Jonah Bride and Joc Pederson, but walked Evan Carter between them. Joe Corbett finished out the inning for Woodruff, striking out Danny Jansen to end the inning.

Woodruff returned for the fourth inning, but promptly allowed back-to-back home runs to Ezequiel Duran and Mark Canha. He got Sam Haggerty to line out, but that was it for his day. In total, he pitched a combination of three innings over the course of the first four innings. He allowed three runs and four hits, two of those going for home runs. He also struck out four and walked one while throwing 62 pitches. While he did get the four ups that he wanted in the game (his goal was to start four innings to get warmed up and pitch), his velocity was noticeably down at the end of his start. After the game, Woodruff said that despite the velocity, he felt great.

After the fourth, both bullpens buckled down for the rest of the game. Trevor Megill pitched the fifth inning and struck out two but recorded four outs after Canha reached on a wild pitch swinging strikeout. Abner Uribe made his first appearance after returning from the World Baseball Classic, allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three in order, striking out one.

Jared Koenig got into some trouble in the seventh by starting the inning with back-to-back singles. He got two outs thanks to a double play from the defense, then a flyout from Canha ended the inning. Grant Anderson walked one in the eighth inning, but that was it in a scoreless inning of work. Stiven Cruz finished out the game for the Brewers, walking two but holding Texas scoreless to end the game.

Vaughn and Hamilton each had two-hit days for the Brewers’ offense. Yelich had three RBIs from his second home run of the spring, and Lockridge and Hamilton added on two RBIs apiece. Ortiz also reached base twice with a hit and a walk, and drove a run in. As a team, the Brewers had nine hits — three of those home runs — and four walks.

Tomorrow features a doubleheader of action for the Brewers. The day will start out with the first of two Spring Breakout games for the Brewers’ prospects, as the Mariners’ Prospects travel to face them in Phoenix. That game will take place at 4:10 p.m. and be broadcast on MLB Video. Then, at night the Brewers travel to face the Diamondbacks, with first pitch set for 8:10 p.m. That game will have an audio broadcast available on MLB.com.