BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
When the Milwaukee Brewers and Miami Marlins square off, this is always an interesting series pitting two ball clubs that operate on Small Market Budgets.
Last weekend was very nostalgic as Miami celebrated the 25th Anniversary of its first World Series in 1997.
On Friday, May 13, a rarity took place, something that’s on my bucket list, the roof being open.
A crowd of 9,110 showed up and watched another outstanding pitching performance from Pablo Lopez. He went seven innings, struck out 11 and issued no walks, but was credited with a no-decision in a Milwaukee 2-1 win.
Game two of the series on Saturday, May 14 saw the Marlins bats erupt in a 9-3 win.
Former Brewers Jesus Aguilar and Avisail Garcia contributed for the Marlins offensively as Miami snapped a five-game home skid. Trevor Rogers pitched 5.1 innings, allowed five hits, amassed eight strikeouts to improve his record to 2-4.
Back-to-back round trippers by Aguilar and Jorge Solar, plus a homer by Brian Anderson, a two-run shot off starter Eric Lauer, sent home 12,941 happy customers.
The game we attended on Sunday, May 15, featured the pitching matchup of Brandon Woodruff, 3-2, 5.97 ERA against Miami’s Elieser Hernandez, 2-2, 6.37 ERA.
In my four games to date, Hernandez has been on the hill three times.
How would this game play out?
Not so good for Hernandez (2-3) as he allowed five runs, two of which were earned, and three hits. The right-hander walked three, stuck out two and hit a batter. He has surrendered 10 home runs in his seven starts this season.
Hernandez gave up two homers in the fifth inning to Kolten Wong and Jace Peterson.
Wong was playing in his 1000th major league game, also stole two bases. He reached base all five times.
Rowdy Tellez hit a home run that gave Milwaukee a 6-3 lead, connecting with a solo shot off reliever Tommy Nance in the seventh inning for his eighth homer of the campaign.
The Brewers tacked on another run in the eighth inning to win the game 7-3 in front of 11,729 fans to win the series 2-1.
The time of the game was 3:33.
Woodruff went five innings, struck out six to improve to 4-2. He yielded just two walks.
The Brewers recorded an old fashioned save by using just two pitchers.
Aaron Ashby pitched four scoreless innings and didn’t allow a run to earn his first save of the season.
What was interesting about this weekend was it marked the return of Brewers Manager Craig Counsell, who played on the 1997 World Series Championship team. Counsell has been piloting the Brewers for eight seasons.
Counsell took part in the festivities all weekend and found himself in the middle of a lot of interview requests.
As I mentioned earlier, there has been an history between these two squads.
Former Marlin Christian Yellich is with Milwaukee while former Brewers Aguilar and Garcia are playing in Miami.
For the most part, this series has been close. Going into the weekend, Milwaukee held an 84-76 advantage and in 2021, the teams were 3-3 against each other.
The weekend series drew 33,780 fans.
Milwaukee will host the Marlins in a four-game series from September 29-October 2 at American Family Field, formerly, Miller Park.
To date, the Marlins are 17-20 and are in fourth place in the NL East Division.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee is 24-14 and sits atop of the NL Central Division.
This week, the Marlins won a 2-1 series vs the Washington Nationals and host the World Champion Atlanta Braves this weekend at LoanDepot Park.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.
To see his Broadcasts, Subscribe at no cost to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment