The Brewers swing through their home-town for a brief 2-game set against Detroit before heading out on the road again to start the month of August.
In the first game against Detroit, they get a very nice start from lefty Erik Sloan. Unfortunately, not only do they not give him the run support to get a victory, the Brewers don't even manage to collect their first hit in the game until Mike Foster doubles to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning. They end up stranding Foster and don't score until the bottom of the 9th, when they manage to tie the game up, 2-2. Fast forward to the 14th inning. An exhausted Brewers bullpen has managed to keep things even but the Falcons bullpen has been their equal. And then Sam Pruiett, who has been scuffling and isn't fully rested coming into this one, is forced into action to start the 14th. That doesn't go well. Pruiett gives up 3 runs on 4 hits and although the Brewers rally a bit and score 1 run in the bottom of the frame, they fall short and lose 5-3. Pruiett falls to 6-4 with a 4.03 ERA. Jaden Francis pitched 4 strong innings to keep the Brewers in this one in extras and sees his ERA fall to 0.99. Mike Foster (.338/.383/.482) is the lone Brewer hitter with more than one hit as he goes 2 for 6 with his 21st double of the season.
The Brewers get off to a 3-1 lead by the end of the 3rd inning in game 2 and get a good performance from starter Steve Green. When the home club erupts for 5 runs in the 6th inning they effectively put the game away and end up winning 9-1. Green works 7 2/3rds, giving up the 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 8 and walking 3. He improves to a fine 11-6 with a 4.03 ERA. Bobby Erbakan (.319/.384/.501) has a big day at the plate, going 3 for 5, hitting his 6th triple and 12 HR of the 1974 season, and driving in 5 runs. Ryan Rodgers (.376/.487/.461) also continues to have a great season and he collects 4 hits in 5 at-bats in this one, scoring 3 times and hitting his 19th double.
Prior to the game the Brewers made a few moves to shore up their tired bullpen. They demoted (temporarily- he's been doing great) lefty Jeremy Walker and Rodrigo (RodRod) Rodriguez (also likely only temporarily) to AAA Chester and brought up lefty reliever Eric Marino- who worked the final 1 1/3 in game 2- and righty reliever Mike Lizarraga, added to the 40-man roster and up in the bigs for the first time. The Brewers don't have another break in their schedule until August 15th and so will go with an extra pitcher on the active roster and might need to shuttle relievers up and down between Chester and Denver a bit in the next few weeks.
After the 2-game series split the Brewers still have a 4 game lead over Charlotte, 7 1/2 ahead of Brooklyn, 8 1/2 over L.A.