The Detroit Tigers were in a giving mood, and the Milwaukee Brewers were more than happy to accept.
Needing all the help they can get to spark their struggling offense, the Brewers walked a season-high 10 times. Six of those free passes turned into runs in an 8-5 victory Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Keston Hiura and Jace Peterson were the lone Milwaukee hitters to score without walking, as they each homered. Hiura's three-run blast in the third got the Brewers on the board and Peterson's two-run shot in the eighth provided some breathing room.
"It was a night where it was just a kind of grind-it-out game offensively. And we got enough of those hits with guys on base and the walks helped us," manager Craig Counsell said. "That's what you have to do if you keep getting people on base. Tonight, we got a couple of homers with guys on base."
BOX SCORE: Brewers 8, Tigers 5
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With the score knotted at 5-5, Justin Smoak started the Brewers' seventh by drawing a walk from Joe Jiménez, continuing the theme of the evening.
Jiménez then hit Avisaíl García. After Omar Narváez struck out, Luis Urías singled to load the bases for Eric Sogard, whose sacrifice fly to center plated Smoak to give Milwaukee its first lead.
Jiménez loaded the bases again by plunking Orlando Arcia in the hand -- a night after rookie Phil Bickford hit two Tigers batters in the hand and fracturing JaCoby Jones's –but Ben Gamel grounded out.
Devin Williams continued his bang-up work by striking out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth. And after Yelich led off the bottom half with a walk – his fourth of the game – Peterson pinch-hit for García and homered to right with two outs.
It was his first of the season, and came at an emotional time personally for the utility man.
"That’s definitely one I’ll remember for the rest of my life, for sure," said Peterson. "I put that one up there with my first career homer, really, with everything going on back home."
As for García, Counsell said he had to be lifted because his left arm tightened up after being hit.
Josh Hader hit Bonifacio to start the ninth but closed it out from there for his ninth save. He still hasn't allowed a hit in 11 2/3 innings this season.
Counsell has now moved into a tie with Tom Trebelhorn for third-most victories as a manager in franchise history with 422.
"I remember when I was like, 12 years old and Tom Trebelhorn was sitting in my living room," Counsell said. His father, John, was the team's director of community relations then. "That’s probably as much as I can give you. That’s pretty cool."
Detroit wasted no time picking up where it left off in its 12-1 pasting of Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Victor Reyes doubled off Adrian Houser five pitches in, Jonathan Schoop reached on an infield single and after Miguel Cabrera tapped back to the mound Jeimer Candelario walked to load the bases.
Willi Castro then followed with perhaps the weakest RBI single ever, a roller that inched down the first-base line about 20 feet away from the plate and came to rest on the chalk with umpire Manny Gonzalez down on one knee to rule it fair.
Houser struck out Christin Stewart with a nasty breaking ball for the second out, but Bonifacio swatted a ground-rule double to left-center to score two more runs and prompt an early trip to the mound by pitching coach Chris Hook.
By the time Houser gloved Austin Romine's comebacker, the right-hander had already thrown 29 pitches and the offense faced a 3-0 hole, an onerous task considering how poorly it's fared in the early portions of games this season.
Indeed, Milwaukee did next to nothing against Spencer Turnbull in the first two innings, managing a lone single by Urías while in the third Detroit turned three consecutive one-out singles into a 4-0 lead.
One swing of Hiura's bat changed the tenor of the game in the third when, after Gamel and Yelich drew one-out walks, he sent a laser beam of a homer out to center to draw the Brewers to within a run.
"We've been down early a lot. That's how a lot of these games have gone," said Counsell. "But I think answering early in the game and going from down four to down one, it changes everything, for sure."
Houser retired the side in order in the fourth. But a leadoff double by Cabrera and RBI single by Castro in the fifth made it a 5-3 game and prompted a mound visit from Counsell, who appeared to be quite animated in his remarks to Houser.
It wound up being Turnbull who hit the showers first, however, as he walked a pair in the bottom of the fifth before being replaced by John Schreiber.
He then walked García to load the bases and Narváez dunked a two-run single over the head of Schoop and into short right -- shattering his bat in the process -- to pull the Brewers even at 5-5.
Eric Yardley pitched two scoreless, hitless innings behind Houser to improve to 2-0.
Milwaukee finished the home stand 6-4 with a five-game road jaunt beginning this weekend in Cleveland.
"It was an up-and-down home stand," Yelich said. "Three wins against the Pirates, two against the Reds and one here. A 6-4 homestand is not terrible. There were probably moments when it didn't feel like that but overall, not a terrible homestand.
"We're still right there in it and have a big road trip coming up."
RECORD
Overall: 17-19
Home: 8-10
Road: 9-9
COMING UP
Thursday: Off day.
Friday: Brewers at Indians, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Corbin Burnes (1-0, 2.78) vs. Cleveland RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-3, 3.75). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.
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