During the bottom of the sixth inning at American Family Field – at what exact point during the parade of paper cuts, the cacophony of craziness is irrelevant – Beyonce’s hit “Single Ladies” played over the stadium’s sound system in a most fitting encapsulation of not only Milwaukee Brewers baseball on this April 28 evening but, perhaps, on the whole.
During a madhouse of a middle-inning sequence in a 13-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Brewers put together 10 runs with almost entirely singles and other small-ball sequencing. Of the 15 batters to reach base in the inning, two came via extra-base hits; one of those was a bloop double. They bunted twice, reached on a catcher’s interference, busted a bat to drive in a run and six times reached on a base hit slower than 80 mph.
And that’s just the way they do it.
An earlier home run finally snapped a streak of seven games without going deep, but the show was stolen by the rallies in the fifth and sixth innings that, one by one, put the game out of reach and gave Milwaukee a second straight victory.
Death by singles from the Brewers offense
Sal Frelick’s homer in the second was the anomaly of late for the Brewers offense, which got back to its old ways of scoring in the middle frames.
Eight runs scored with 13 runners reaching and two extra-base hit.
Brice Turang’s double to the wall in right-center was the only real damage struck by Milwaukee’s hitters, who first put up two in the fifth when Tyler Black blooped a single to center with one out.
In the sixth, the Brewlishness became unhinged.
Frelick led off with a four-bouncer up the middle that snuck past a pair of infielder for a single. David Hamilton, in typical David Hamilton fashion, then bunted his way aboard and Joey Ortiz followed by also squaring around, but pitcher Andrew Hoffmann made a poor throw to first to allow Ortiz to reach and load the bases.
Garrett Mitchell and William Contreras then snuck consecutive singles to the left side past the drawn-in infield, making it an 8-2 Brewers lead. Turang walked to replenish the bags.
Black’s next swing epitomized the inning perfectly, a jam-job, broken-bat flare at 64.9 mph with a .150 expected batting average that hardly got out of the infield. But because the infield was drawn in, it landed safely for a RBI single.
From there, Jake Bauers singled. Brandon Lockridge, as the ninth batter of the inning, made the first out. Frelick reached on a catcher’s interference, because of course he did. Hamilton blooped a ground-rule double just inside the line in left.
Hoffmann – 11 batters faced, seven hits allowed and eight runs given up despite carrying an average exit velocity against of 77 mph in a cruel fate given by the baseball gods – was asked to depart the mound before, lest he gain squatter’s rights by the time he finally escaped the inning.
Chad Patrick loses control in the fifth but limits damage
Leadoff walks are a bad idea. Three of them? A recipe for disaster.
After four straight crisp, dominant innings, Patrick lost control of the zone to begin the fifth inning, walking Adrian Del Castillo, Jose Fernandez and Nolan Arenado. James McCann delivered a one-out single to left to cut the Brewers’ lead to 3-2, but all things considered it could have been worse.
Alek Thomas recorded the first out with a screamer that found the glove of a leaping Brice Turang for the first one. Then, following McCann’s hit, Ildemaro Vargas bunted into an out and Ketel Marte hit a hot shot on the ground that Jake Bauers took care of at first.
Sal Frelick snaps the drought
For the first time since April 18, a Brewers hitter left the park.
The drought-breaking blast came from an unexpected source, too, as Frelick led off the bottom of the second with a 394-foot shot to right that left the bat at 103.4 mph.
Frelick’s second homer of the year was the first by a Brewer since Brice Turang went deep 10 days prior in the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins. That was the longest streak by the Brewers since going a franchise-record 13 straight from Aug. 9-22, 1999.
Joey Ortiz pushes lead to three
For only the second time this year, Joey Ortiz came up with a two-out, run-scoring hit.
With Brandon Lockridge and Frelick in scoring position after one-out walks, Ortiz took a first-pitch sinker from Merrill Kelly in the fourth and dumped it in front of center fielder Alek Thomas to bring both home.
What time is the Brewers game today?
Time: 6:40 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on today?
TV channel: Brewers.TV.
Brewers 2026 record
14-13.
Brewers lineup
Diamondbacks lineup
Brewers schedule
Brewers vs. Diamondbacks, April 29, 6:40 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Brandon Sproat (0-1, 6.45) vs. Arizona LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 2.89). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Diamondbacks, April 2630 12:40 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 3.77) vs. Arizona RHP Mike Soroka (4-0, 2.60). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 13, Dbacks 2: Homer drought ends but Brewers go small-ball for explosion
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
