The Brewers wrap up the home portion of the 1973 regular season with a 3-game series against the 6th place Baltimore Lords.
And in game 1 the Brewers keep their September success going with an 8-3 win behind staff ace Cheol-han Lee. Lee works 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits to improve to 19-7 with a 2.68 ERA. Joe Willemse (.417/.400/.542) continues to build a case for inclusion on the 1974 active roster by going 2 for 5, hitting his 1st big league HR, and driving in 3 runs from the lead-off slot. Mike Foster (.288/.324/.409) is finishing the season strong after having a very weak first half and went 3 for 5 with a triple, his 3rd of the season. Young catcher Zacharias Martell (.375/.545/.375) had his best big league game yet with a 2 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 walk performance.
Harry Lyerly picked a bad time to hit the skids. Lyerly, who was having another fine season, has now had 2 consecutive disastrous outings as he lasted just 5 innings in this one while giving up 5 runs on 8 hits (1 HR) while striking out 4 and walking 2. The offense didn't help, only managing 2 runs on 4 hits against the Lords starter Chris Sutherland (6-7, 4.47). Lyerly falls to 14-7 with a 3.21 ERA. The best performances in the game were by two young left-handed hitters trying to prove themselves and win jobs with the Brewers in 1974- Joe Willemse (.431/.415/.549), who went 2 for 3 in the game, and Greg Tietz (.368/.415/.618), who slammed a pinch-hit 2-run HR in the 5th inning to account for all of the Brewers scoring in the 8-2 loss. This was Tietz 6th HR in just 85 plate appearances this season.
Professional hitter Andrew Kennedy helped lead the Brewers to a 13-6 victory in the rubber match. Kennedy (.357/.395/.467) went 4 for 5, scoring 3 times, driving in 4 runs, and hitting his 7th HR of the season. The game was back and forth early on with Brewer starter Matt Helm giving up 5 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits in 5 innings pitched. But the bullpen was mostly rock solid and the offense propelled the Brewers to another September win. Helm got the win to improve to 8-9 with a 4.32 ERA. But the best pitching performance of the game was provided by Sam Pruiett, who worked 3 nearly flawless innings, allowing just 2 hits as he was tiring towards the end of his appearance, striking out 4 and walking none. Joe McPhillips (.303/.406/.506) had a good game, going 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and hitting his 11th double.
With the series victory the Brewers are still in the race although they sit in 3rd place still, 2 games behind the leaders- L.A.- and 1 game behind 2nd place Brooklyn. Chances are slim with time running out but at least the Brewers are putting up a good fight down the stretch.
Next up is a 2-game series in Brooklyn that will likely dictate whether the Brewers stay in the race until the end.