The Milwaukee Brewers did not play their best baseball on Saturday against the Houston Astros.
After defeating the Houston Astros on Friday 5-4 to open the series, the Milwaukee Brewers were on the wrong end of a 9-2 loss to Houston on Saturday.
There were multiple contributing factors to Milwaukee's loss. Let’s review them:
A Tough Day on the Mound
On Saturday, Brewers right-hander Brandon Sproat got his ninth start of the season. Coming off a losing decision to the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he was hard on himself afterward for allowing four walks and three earned runs, this outing served as a chance to bounce back.
Sproat was able to escape the day without allowing any walks, but the Astros’ batting order jumped all over him.
In 4 ⅓ innings of work, Sproat allowed six hits, five earned runs (one home run) and hit two batters.
In the bottom of the first inning, after Milwaukee took an early lead thanks to an RBI double by William Contreras, Sproat gave up a double to Yordan Alvarez before hitting Taylor Trammell with a pitch, but he was able to get out of the inning without allowing any runs.
In the bottom of the second inning, Sproat gave up singles to Cam Smith and Jake Meyers that resulted in Smith scoring at home after a challenge call was upheld that he was safe at the plate. Then, with two outs, Sproat gave up a two-run home run to Jeremy Peña that gave Houston a 3-1 lead.
Sproat got out of the inning after striking out Alvarez, but his woes were not yet over.
After strong frames in the third and fourth innings, Sproat gave up a single in the bottom of the fifth and hit Christian Walker with a pitch. After that, Brewers manager Pat Murphy ended his outing in favor of Carlos Rodriguez.
However, Rodriguez struggled too.
Immediately, Rodrgiuez gave up an RBI single and a two-RBI double that pushed the Astros’ lead out to 6-2. Rodriguez was able to recover and get through the rest of the frame, as well as the sixth and the seventh inning, but after allowing Peña to single in the eighth and walking Alvarez, he was replaced by Jake Woodford.
Once Woodford took the mound, he immediately gave up a three-run home run to Walker, and that would serve as the final blow for the Brewers.
Not Enough Offense
After Contreras’ RBI double in the first inning, Milwaukee managed just one more run the rest of the game, which came from a Jackson Chourio RBI single in the top of the fifth.
Chourio’s RBI made it a 3-2 game, and the Brewers were still very much in it, especially after overcoming a three-run deficit the night before. However, as Houston’s offense rattled off three-run frames in the fifth and the eighth, Milwaukee could not respond with just six hits in 32 at-bats.
With their four-game winning streak over, the Brewers have a chance to win the rubber game of the series against the Astros on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CDT at Daikin Park in Houston.
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