The Brewers continue their final home stand of the season with a 3-game series against the Charlotte Sting.
And in the first game the Brewers need extra innings and a walk-off sacrifice fly off the bat of Andrew Kennedy in the bottom of the 10th but they get the 4-3 win after blowing an early 3-0 lead. Steve Green got the start for the Brewers and actually left the game without having allowed any runs. However, the Sting had loaded the bases against him with only 1 out in the 6th when he was removed with slugging left-handed hitter Cody Kane up. Young lefty Jeremy Walker struck out Cane. But the Denver manager (that would be me) made a mistake and left him to face the next two right-handed hitters, who both singled, bringing in the 3 inherited runners. Jose de los Santos was the last of 5 pitchers for the Brewers in this one and had one of his best outings of the season, working 2 scoreless innings (allowing 1 hit) and he got the win to improve to 3-2 with a 3.48 ERA. Joe Willemse (.419/.400/.488) continued his impressive week with a 4 for 5, 2 double (3) game. Spencer Wilson (.254/.335/.390) hit his 5th HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the 4th inning.
The Brewers won with a bit less drama in the second game. When Denver starter Justin Peacock had to leave the game after getting the first two outs of the game, Eric Johnson came in to replace him. (Peacock suffered a mid-calf strain fielding a come-backer to the mound and is expected to be fully recovered in just a few days.) Johnson was solid for 4 1/3rd innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, striking out 3 and walking none. And the 2 runs scored on the first 2 batters he faced- giving up a single to Cody Kane and a 2-run HR to former Brewer Jamison Bash. With the offense giving good run support, Johnson earned the win to move to 7-2 with a 4.45 ERA. (This has been a pattern with Johnson all through his pro career- he never puts up very impressive numbers but he almost always wins quite a bit more than he loses.) The big hit for the Brewers was Jonathan Koch's (.305/.326/.457) 5th inning 3-run HR. It was Koch's 18th homer of the season and pushed his RBI total to 105. Andrew Kennedy (.354/.394/.461) was 2 for 4 in the game and scored twice.
Having moved into 2nd place, just 1/2 game behind L.A., the Brewers looked flat early on in the final game of the series, as Sting starter Jalen Cotton held them scoreless for the first 8 innings. Fortunately, the Brewers got good pitching performances from Eric Sloan and reliever Jaden Francis. Sloan gave up 1 run in his 7 innings pitched- a solo HR by former Brewer Ruben Souffront (who also doubled in the game)- while striking out 5 and walking none. Jaden Francis pitched the last 2 innings, flawlessly, striking out 3 and allowing not a single baserunner. Cotton was still on the mound in the bottom of the 9th, going for the shutout. But the Brewers were having none of that. Andrew Kennedy opened the inning with a single on the second pitch he saw. That brought up Mike Foster. Hero Mike Foster. He liked what he saw on the first pitch. And the fans liked what they saw when as the ball was sailing out into the left-field stands. Francis gets the win and improves to 4-4 with a 3.10 ERA. And the Brewers get a 3-game sweep just when they most needed it.
L.A. won also so the Brewers remain 1/2 game behind them in 2nd place. The Brooklyn Aces have now fallen to 3rd place but are just 1 game back. (Phoenix was eliminated awhile ago and are limping towards the finish line, having lost 8 of their last 10 games.)
The Brewers have 1 more home series, against the 6th place Baltimore Lords. After that the Brewers travel to Brooklyn for 2 games and then down to Baltimore to finish the regular season with 3 more games against the Lords. The Lords are the only team in the league the Brewers have a losing record against this season. Granted, many of those games were early in the season when Baltimore got off to a great start and was in 1st place for some time.
Buckle up folks, we are in for a wild ride!