Brewers Play Longball With Rays, Sweep Short Series With Another 5-3 Win
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Milwaukee Brewers played the part of division leader well these past two days, and they finished off a mini-sweep against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday with another 5-3 win that featured four Brewers home runs.
The National League Central leaders are now 44-33 and an eyelash ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals thanks to two solo home runs from Rowdy Tellez, a two-run shot from Luis Urias and a solo shot from Jace Peterson to put the Rays away
There were several culprits for Tampa Bay on an ''opener'' day, their 10th of the season. Jalen Beeks started, and pitched two innings, giving up Tellez's first home run to lead off the second. Shawn Armstrong gave up Urias' home run in the fifth after a walk, Calvin Faucher was knicked in the eighth by Tellez for the go-ahead run that made it 4-3, and Ralph Garza Jr. was rocked by Jace Peterson with a solo homer in the ninth
"You don't anticipate the home runs, but when you go back and look at the pitches, you understand why they got a hold of them,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I felt like we just didn't execute some pitches. Certainly with two strikes, when you go back and look and Rowdy's home run and Urias' home run, those two-strike counts 0-2, 1-2, there were just a lot of middle-middle fastballs.''
The Rays came back twice, scoring two runs in the fourth to take the lead 2-1 on a two-RBI double by Taylor Walls. Down 3-2 in the fifth, Wander Franco's double down the left-field line scored Vidal Brujan from third to tie the game.
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco (5) hits a RBI double against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fifth inning at Tropicana Field. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)
But there could have been so much more. The Rays, who had seven hits and drew six walks, were just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
"That's just not going to get it done,'' Cash said. "We had seven hits, left eight or nine guys on base — (nine, actually) and we've just got to find ways to give our pitchers some more runs.''
Seven different Rays hit with runners in scoring position, and only Walls had any success, though he grounded out with a runner on second in the second inning and struck out in the eighth.
The curious Cash move came in the fifth inning after Franco had driven in Brujan. He used rookie Josh Lowe, who's hitting .179, as a pinch-hitter for Isaac Paredes, who's the reigning American League Player of the Week. Lowe struck out against right-handed reliever Jandel Gustave and then Rand Arozarena grounded out to end the threat.
"He's fine. I liked that matchup more (with Lowe),'' Cash said. "I totally appreciate what Isaac has done, but that's a tough sinkerballer. Tomorrow it could go back the other way where Isaac is pinch-hitting for him, or another lefty.''
It came back to haunt the Rays later, because Lowe struck out in the eighth inning and flied out to end the game against lefty closer Josh Hader, whom he had no chance against.
Faucher, who gave up that eighth-inning homer, took the loss and is now 1-2 on the season. He's pitched nine innings for the Rays and has a 9.00 ERA.
"In using (Faucher), we knew we were going to have to get creative. We had a bunch of guys who were basically one-inning available,'' Cash said. "I still like Calvin's stuff, but he left a breaking ball middle-middle to Rowdy for the second homer.''
The Rays, who have played a team-record 14 straight games that were decided by two runs or less, were swept at home for the first time since April 19-21 of 2019, the longest streak in the majors. They are now 10-3 in interleague play, losing two straight after winning 10 in a row.
Tampa Bay now embarks on an 11-game, road trip in 11 days, starting on Thursday with five games in four days at Toronto. Three more follow in Boston, and then three in Cincinnati.
The Rays are in the thick of the wild-card race with both Toronto and Boston, so this is a big trip and the Rays need to get over this mini-sweep quickly.
"Look, we've got to move on from it quickly, and I trust that these guys will,'' Cash said. "We've got a bunch of big games in Toronto, five games in four days. We need to focus on that before we get to any other series.
"We know we've got our hands full because Toronto is a good team and we've played them well. But we've got new faces, a younger team out here now that should be pretty amped up to get to Toronto.''
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