Entering tonight’s ballgame, seven teams had never won 100 games in Major League Baseball history. Leaving tonight, six teams have never accomplished that feat.
Tonight, in typical late-inning Brewers fashion, they pulled away from the Phillies to take the series and notch their 100th victory of the season for the first time in franchise history.
Much like the previous couple of nights, the Brewers struggled coming out of the gate against the Phillies’ starting pitching; tonight was no different, as Andrew Painter struck out three batters in the first inning. However, his hot start only lasted an inning as Sal Frelick pounded a double to left field to drive in the Brewers’ first run of the game, 1-0.
Shane Drohan had struggled in his previous two starts, allowing a combined 11 runs on 10 hits, with four home runs allowed, forcing a move to the bullpen. After a couple of solid appearances, Drohan reappeared on the mound, although with a short leash. The first two innings were scoreless, but he did allow a pair of walks and a base hit. The damage appeared in the bottom of the third inning.
Kyle Schwarber led off the bottom of the third with a double to center field. After Trea Turner grounded out, Bryce Harper singled to left field to tie the game at 1-1. Drohan only lasted one more batter before Pat Murphy yanked him from the game, replacing him with Chad Patrick.
The game hit a bit of a scoreless inning stretch following the third, as neither team scored until the top of the eighth inning. In fact, Patrick and Aaron Ashby combined for 3.1 innings of hitless ball before JoJo Romero broke that stretch in the seventh inning.
Philadelphia would’ve gone 1-2-3 for three innings in a row, but a low throw from Cooper Pratt forced Jake Bauers to miss the catch at first base. Before the error, Luis Arraez grounded out to shortstop but fell to the ground, quickly grabbing at his ankle, where he was promptly taken out of the game. While walking back to the clubhouse, Arraez was ejected arguing the safe/out call at first base.
Painter was finally pulled from the game after six masterful innings in which he allowed just one run on five hits, striking out eight batters. He did struggle with command at times, walking three batters, but overall was able to be successful with just 93 pitches thrown.
Pratt and Frelick set up the inning in the best possible way in the top of the seventh inning with back-to-back walks. Then, the ABS challenges bit them, as both Joey Ortiz and Garrett Mitchell were struck out looking on pitches that were challenged and overturned. To follow up the unluckiness of the strike zone, Turang struck out swinging to strand two potential runners.
After a quiet bottom of the eighth inning, Brewers fans were put on high alert as Jackson Chourio replaced Contreras at the plate. Later to find out, Murphy wasn’t pleased with the way Contreras was running down the baseline on a ball that was muffed by the first baseman. Murphy has not been quiet with these moves this season, but we have seen a decent amount of success come out of these moves, so perhaps this will provide a spark for the postseason.
Everything came together for the Brewers in the top of the eighth inning. After a Chourio walk, Jake Bauers picked up his first hit since Tuesday night by driving in Chourio to make it 2-1. After a base hit from Sánchez, Pratt made up for his error earlier in the game with a base hit to center field to make it 3-1. Finally, in typical Brewers fashion, they added another single to the tally, as Joey Ortiz drove in Sánchez to extend their lead to 4-1.
After a shutdown bottom of the eighth inning, Chourio hit his 25th home run of the season to cap the Brewers’ lead at 5-1, sealing the deal on the team’s 100th victory.
Adam McCalvy shared after the conclusion of the game that “The Brewers are the first team in Major League history to win 100 games in a season without a winning streak longer than five games. They had three separate five-game winning streaks this season, but never won a sixth.”
With that, the Crew’s magic number for the National League one seed is down to one. They could accomplish this feat tonight with a Dodgers loss. With their loss, it’ll also secure a World Series home field if they get there as well.
The team’s final home stand of the season will begin tomorrow night as they begin a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Robert Gasser will be on the mound as first pitch will take place at 6:40 p.m.
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