Brewers score five in last three innings, but can’t overcome eight given up by Lauer.
The Brewers offense has been showing life in the last few days. Unfortunately, the pitching has not been backing them up.
Christian Yelich gave the Brewers the lead right out of the gate with a leadoff home run to start the game, putting them up 1-0. Yelich had a strong day with a 3-for-5 performance, leading the Brewers offense that put up 11 hits and 4 walks.
Unfortunately, the good performance on offense was overshadowed by Eric Lauer’s bad day. He started out well with two scoreless innings. However, in the third inning, the game got away from him. Three hits, two walks, and a sacrifice fly put the Nationals up 4-1 after three innings. He had a scoreless fourth inning, then went back out for the fifth. He started the fifth with a walk, then allowed three straight home runs that extended the Nationals lead to 8-1. Overall in the game, he allowed eight runs on seven hits with four walks and just two strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Nationals starter Patrick Corbin settled down after that leadoff home run. From there through the sixth inning, the offense only managed two hits and two walks off of Corbin. However, Corbin went back out for the seventh, and that’s where the Brewers did get to him. They started the inning with back-to-back doubles, and then Mark Mathias hit a home run to cut the deficit to 8-4. The Brewers then loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Erasmo Ramirez, but Rowdy Tellez lined out to end the inning.
The Brewers made one more attempt to rally in the ninth. Andrew McCutchen drew a one out walk and Luis Urias hit a two-out home run and the deficit was down to 8-6. That was as close as they could get, and Rowdy Tellez struck out to end the game.
Peter Strzelecki, Hoby Milner, and Devin Williams each pitched scoreless innings to keep the Nationals off the board. Luis Urias reached base three times (1-for-3 with two walks), as well as Victor Caratini (2-for-3, one walk). Unfortunately, it was all not enough to complete the rally.
The Brewers will make another attempt to break their losing streak tomorrow. Jason Alexander will make his third start for the Brewers, and Paolo Espino will start for the Nationals. First pitch is at 12:35 pm.
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