The Brewers then head up to Portland where they hope to keep things going against the rebuilding 7th place Wild Things.
And in game 1 they carry a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 9th, having received another fine start from Matt Helm, who worked 7 innings giving up the 2 runs on 8 hits. But Jaden Francis, who has been the most stable member of the Brewers bullpen this year, couldn't hold the lead in the 9th and the Wild Things sent the game to extras. Then, in the 11th inning, Liann-wei Hua, who had been sailing along for 2 1/3rd innings, needed one more out to send the game to the 12th. But the Wild Things superstar shortstop Chris Tobin, who had entered the game as pinch-hitter in the 9th and hit the triple that tied the game, now topped that by drilling the 1-1 pitch 450 feet into the left-center seats to give the Wild Things a walk-off victory. Josh Schaeffer (.333/.429/.648), continuing to rake in his short WPK career, went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored and hit his 2nd double in the loss.
The Brewers got another good start from their veteran ace Cheol-han Lee in the second game and held on for a narrow 3-2 win. Cheol-han worked 8 innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits to improve to 7-4 with 2.94 ERA. Jose de los Santos gave up a run in the 9th but worked out of a jam to get his 6th save (3.14 ERA.) Bobby Erbakan (.302/.368/.453) went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and hit his 8th double in the win. 42-year old Billy Turner (.314/.340/.490) was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.
Steve Green gave the Brewers perhaps his best start of the season in the rubber match, but the offense and bullpen let him down and the Brewers lost, again on a walk-off, 2-1. Green allowed just 1 run on 6 hits in 8 innings pitched, striking out 8 and walking just 1. His ERA improves to 4.59. Sam Pruiett pitched the bottom of the 9th and got the first two outs pretty quickly, and against the Wild Things two most dangerous hitters (Chris Tobin and the power-hitting right fielder Alex Reyes.) But then he gave up a 2-out double to former Brewer Jose Careaga, Careaga's second straight double of the game, and then Portland's first baseman Matt Sherman singled Careaga home to end the game and give the home club the series victory. On the plus side, Chad Brown (.331/.340/.424) did pick up 1 hit in 4 at-bats to extend his current hitting streak to 15 games.
Fortunately for the Brewers two of their main competitors in the division are going through cold spells- L.A. has lost 5 straight and Baltimore has won just 4 of their last 10 games. Brooklyn has, on the other hand, won 4 straight and sit in 1st place, with the Brewers, Baltimore Lords, and L.A. Spinners all 2 1/2 games back. The Brewers are percentage points ahead of the Lords and Spinners.
Meanwhile, in the SJL, the Jacksonville Wolf Pack have rattled off 13 straight wins and now lead the Boston Berserkers, who have also remained pretty hot, by 2 games.