Offense has not been the easiest thing to come by lately for the Milwaukee Brewers, and they had an abundance of it in a 13-2 statement win on Tuesday over the Arizona Diamondbacks to open their three-game series.
Without Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and Andrew Vaughn, the Brewers dealt with a home run drought that lasted seven games, their longest in over a decade. On Tuesday, Sal Frelick put an end to it.
Frelick got the festivities in the batter’s box started by crushing a solo home run to right field to get the Brewers on the board. Milwaukee would log 14 more hits during the evening, and none of them would clear any of the outfield walls, but Frelick made it clear that it doesn’t matter with a direct message:
“I mean, whether we score runs like we did in the sixth inning or hit three homers in the inning, like, runs are runs,” Frelick told the media after the game. “And you're not always going to be able to hit the long ball.
“So, just making sure we're not giving up the other side of it,” he added. "It's always good when you see one go over."
When it came to getting runs, the Brewers’ hitters contributed on a wide scale. Seven batters notched at least one RBI, and five of them had multiple RBI’s.
Right-hander Chad Patrick got the starting nod for the Brewers in the first game of the series. Early in his outing, he suffered a brief scare.
As Patrick was warming up to return to the mound for the second inning, he dealt with an episode that warranted a visit from head athletic trainer Brad Epstein. However, he remained in the game.
“I had a little scare there in the second,” Patrick said after the game. “I was pretty worried for myself for a second, but everything feels normal. So, I just felt like I couldn't see for a good 15-20 seconds. I was like, you know, that's why I took my hat off and everything. So, I feel good though.”
Patrick said that after taking deep breaths and making sure he could throw, the feeling subsided.
“I don't know, it just, it went away,” Patrick said. “It felt like my eyeballs were at the top of my head and like it was like blurry kind of like, I don't know, it was just a weird feeling. You know, a feeling I definitely don't want to have again.”
Patrick ended up pitching five innings and striking out five batters while allowing five walks, one hit and two earned runs.
The Brewers will return to action against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. CDT.
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