Sal Frelick saves day with home run robbery for final out in Brewers' win vs. Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. — From unknown to indispensable.
Rookie Tobias Myers continued his terrific run on Tuesday night, throwing 6 ⅓ scoreless innings to help propel the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium.
The right-hander's performance wasn't the only highlight, however. Christian Yelich also slugged his 200th career home run in the first inning and another rookie, Jackson Chourio, drove in three runs as the Brewers snapped a five-game losing streak at Angel Stadium that dated back to June 15, 2010.
Then, to finish the game off in heart-stopping fashion, Sal Frelick made a home-run-saving catch at the wall in center to rob Taylor Ward and stun the Los Angeles crowd.
Not a good ninth for the bullpen
The score was 6-0 with one out in the ninth when Elieser Hernández spiked a pair of wild pitches to scuttle what would have been the Brewers' fourth shutout.
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Joel Payamps followed and allowed a pair of runs to make it a 6-3 game, and the Angels had the potential tying run at the plate with two outs. That forced manager Pat Murphy's hand, as he needed to call upon Trevor Megill.
Ward fell behind in the count, 1-2, before sending what would have been the game-tying drive to center that Frelick hauled back with a tremendous leaping grab at the wall.
What an ending.
What a stretch by Tobias Myers
Myers has gone from minor-league journeyman to difference maker in the rotation in a very short period of time.
He continued his recent run of terrific starts in this one, holding the Angels scoreless over six innings and 90 pitches. Myers (4-2) scattered four hits and two walks while striking out six and has now allowed just one earned run over his last 20 ⅓ innings over three starts.
Myers also lowered his season ERA to 3.26, underscoring his importance to an injury-ravaged rotation that has already seen 12 pitchers start at least one game.
The only spot of trouble he faced came in the sixth when the first two batters reached for the Angels, but Myers recovered with a strikeout and a double-play grounder. He was replaced by Enoli Paredes after issuing a one-out walk in the seventh.
Jackson Chourio shows off his wheels
The Brewers put together a nice two-out rally in the fourth when Frelick and Gary Sánchez each singled to bring up the No. 9 hitter, Chourio, who then rifled a shot down the first-base line.
Rightfielder Jo Adell didn't play the carom off the wall down the line correctly and the ball bounded away from him, allowing Frelick and Sánchez to score easily and Chourio to slide head-first into the plate with a "Little League homer" that extended Milwaukee's lead to 5-0.
Chourio was credited with a double and two runs batted in, and Adell with an error. Chourio also recorded the fastest home-to-home sprint in the majors this season on the play at 14.7 seconds (29.6 feet per second).
Then in the sixth, Chourio added to his RBI total with a sacrifice fly to right.
A milestone for Christian Yelich
With two outs in the first inning Yelich hit career homer No. 200, 407 feet out to right field to give the Brewers a quick 1-0 lead.
It was the seventh of the season for Yelich and 141st of his tenure with Milwaukee.
Milwaukee tacked on an additional run in the second as Frelick doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
Aggressiveness on the bases also cost a couple of potential runs, however, as Joey Ortiz was thrown out at home trying to score on a grounder to shortstop in the second inning and Brice Turang was thrown out at home for third out in the third on a failed double-steal attempt.