The Brewers fought back from an early deficit to win their third straight game Sunday afternoon, scoring six runs in the eighth to complete a sweep of the Chicago White Sox.
Starter Brandon Sproat got lit up in his Brewers debut, surrendering a grand slam before getting an out. After walking the first two hitters he faced, Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas lifted a fly ball to center that should’ve been the first out. The usually sure-handed Blake Perkins ran back instead of forward, letting it drop to load the bases with still nobody out. That brought up Colson Montgomery, who smacked a first-pitch cutter from Sproat over the fence in center for the aforementioned grand slam.
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Austin Hays grounded out for the first out of the game, but Andrew Benintendi walked on five pitches — the third walk of the inning. At this point, Grant Anderson was warming up in the Brewers’ bullpen, but Sproat was able to bear down, inducing a pop-up from Everson Pereira and striking out Edgar Quero to keep the game from getting out of hand.
Milwaukee was able to claw back almost immediately, halving the deficit in the bottom of the first. William Contreras doubled with one out, then advanced to third on a passed ball by Quero. Luis Rengifo lined out to Meidroth at second base for the second out, but Gary Sánchez — hitting cleanup for Milwaukee today — launched a home run into left field for the Brewers’ first two runs of the day.
Things didn’t get much easier for Sproat after a nightmare start. He walked Tristan Peters on five pitches to start the second inning before giving up a grounder into the hole at shortstop that very well could have been a hit. Luckily, the Brewers’ middle infield is Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang, who turned a beautiful double play to get Sproat two outs closer to a scoreless inning.
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Up next for the White Sox was Murakami, who hit a towering fly ball to right field. Sal Frelick trailed back with the ball, but when he jumped up to try and make the catch, the ball bounced off his glove and over the wall for a solo home run. Anderson proceeded to get loose in the Brewers’ bullpen once again. Vargas then singled and stole second, and Montgomery drove him in with another single.
Brewer manager Pat Murphy left Sproat in the game to face Hays, who struck out on three pitches to end the inning. After two innings, the score was Chicago 6, Milwaukee 2. Sproat made it through the third inning, but not before allowing another solo home run, this time to Pereira. His day ended there, having allowed seven runs on six hits, four walks, and three homers while striking out three.
No doubt about it: Sproat’s Brewers debut couldn’t have gone much worse. Still, it’s too soon to worry. Back in 2019, a guy named Corbin Burnes gave up 11 home runs in his first three major league starts. He turned out fine. It’s also worth noting that catcher Jeferson Quero was making his major league debut, and that Sproat — who never pitched in the Brewers’ minor league system — very likely hadn’t worked with him much prior to today’s game.
After Sproat exited, the Brewers’ bullpen shut down the White Sox, and the offense started to claw back. Anderson tossed two scoreless innings, and Jared Koenig struck out the side in the sixth. Sal Frelick led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and Brandon Lockridge knocked him in with his second RBI single in as many days to cut the deficit to 7-3.
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Neither team scored again until the bottom of the eighth, when Ortiz — who’s had a hit in every game this season — singled off of reliever Chris Murphy to start the inning. Jake Bauers, who’d come in to pinch-hit for Quero, struck out, but Ortiz was able to advance to second on a wild pitch. Brandon Lockridge beat out an infield single, Blake Perkins walked, and just like that, the bases were loaded. The next batter, Turang, ripped an opposite-field single to score Ortiz and keep the bases loaded. Contreras popped out for the second out, and Luis Rengifo went down to his final strike against Murphy. However, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Rengifo snuck a grounder up the middle to score Lockridge and Perkins, putting the Crew within one.
Just like that, the Brewers had the go-ahead run on first with Christian Yelich walking up to the plate to pinch hit for Sánchez. Yelich took a couple of balls, fouled off a couple of pitches, then hit a towering moonshot down the right field line that stayed just fair, clearing the bases and giving the Brewers a 9-7 lead.
Yelich’s home run came off the bat at 111.1 mph, making it the hardest hit ball by a Brewer so far this year. He may be getting older, but he’s still got it.
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Trevor Megill came in for the save in the ninth and immediately gave up a single to Peters, bringing up the top of the lineup for the White Sox. Meidroth and Murakami both went down swinging, and Vargas lifted a deep fly to the warning track in right field that dropped harmlessly into the glove of Sal Frelick, ending the game and completing the sweep.
Every Brewers starter recorded a hit today except for Quero, who walked in one of his two plate appearances. The bullpen, stretched to six innings today, was once again lights-out. After Sproat exited the game, Milwaukee didn’t allow a run. Anderson and Jake Woodford (who picked up the win) each went two scoreless innings, while Koenig and Megill racked up multiple strikeouts.
The Crew will welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to American Family Field tomorrow for a three-game series. Kyle Harrison, set to make his Brewers debut, will face off against right-hander Nick Martinez. First pitch for the series opener is slated for 6:40 p.m.
