Brewers 7, Diamondbacks 5: Is It Comeback Season Already?

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Colin Rea - 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 74 pitches, 49 strikes (66.2%)
Home Runs: Jesse Winker (1)
Top 3 WPA: William Contreras (.203), Luis Urias (.183), Jesse Winker (.120) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Colin Rea (-.165), Christian Yelich (-.057), Hoby Milner (-.054) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Rea Gets Hit Up Early
All four of Rea’s earned runs were given up in the first two innings. After a one-run first inning, Rea started off the second inning by giving up a double to Carson Kelly and a walk to Jake McCarthy before allowing all of them to score by giving up a home run to Ketel Marte.

Rea was able to collect himself for the remainder of his five innings, retiring the Diamondbacks in order in the third and fourth inning and giving up just one baserunner in the fifth inning. He was pulled after getting Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to pop out and giving up a single to Evan Longoria.

Rea is sitting right around his career averages, posting a 4.88 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP over 62.2 innings pitched this season. Over his 217.0 total innings pitched as a big-leaguer, his ERA and WHIP are 4.89 and 1.34.

Relievers Keep On Relievin’
Hoby Milner was the first pitcher to come out of the bullpen but quickly ran into trouble after Alek Thomas made it to first on a fielder’s choice but was able to advance to third after a Carson Kelly groundball resulted in a throwing error by Willy Adames. Jake McCarthy would hit another RBI single to score Arizona’s fifth run but Milner would get Geraldo Perdomo to hit a weak grounder to end the inning.

Bryse Wilson, Joel Payamps, and Devin Williams would take on the final 2.1 innings of the game, giving up just one hit and one walk between them. Joel Payamps in particular had a spectacular outing, recording all three of his outs by strikeout. Williams' ninth inning earned him his 13th save of the season, the fifth most in the National League.

Warming Up In Wisconsin
While the Brewers had bits and pieces of offense in the first half of the game, they entered the seventh inning down 5-3. Many fans will attest to the fact that the Brewers often tend to disappear in the later parts of the game. In fact, the team’s OPS is just .632 in the seventh inning and later, 26th of all MLB teams. But tonight was different.

Milwaukee started with three consecutive baserunners, with Luis Urias drawing a walk followed by back-to-back singles by Blake Perkins and Joey Wiemer to load the bases. Christian Yelich hit a soft grounder to record the first out but scored Urias, bringing the score to 5-4. Then, a huge double by William Contreras sent Perkins and Wiemer home, taking the lead and putting the score at 6-5.

Owen Miller came up with a single to advance Contreras to third base and Willy Adames would put the nail in the coffin for the Diamondbacks, hitting a ground out that allowed Contreras to score the seventh run of the game for the Brewers.

In other news, Jesse Winker hit his first home run of the season, a 416-foot, 107.1 mph, 2-RBI shot to center field in the fourth inning. Winker’s still got it, folks!

What’s Next? 
Julio Teheran will make the start in the deciding game of the series against NL Cy Young frontrunner Zac Gallen. With the red-hot Reds extending their win streak to ten games, the Brewers are still behind by 0.5 games but are holding their own in the division thus far. In contrast, the former division leaders, the Pittsburgh Pirates, are now second-to-last in the division.

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