The Milwaukee Brewers won their second-half opener without a starting pitcher going six innings, without more than four hits through nine, and without their best available reliever needing to record an out in the deciding frame. They won it because five relievers put up five zeros, and because Garrett Mitchell got a ball through the middle in the 10th.
Mitchell’s single to center scored Jackson Chourio from second to end it, 2-1, in Friday’s game at American Family Field. He finished 2-for-4 and drove in the only run Milwaukee manufactured all night that didn’t leave the yard.
The other one did. Joey Ortiz tied the game in the fifth with his fourth homer of the season, a fly ball to left an inning after Griffin Conine put Miami ahead with his sixth. Those were the only two runs scored in regulation by either club.
Logan Henderson gave Milwaukee five innings on three hits and one run with four strikeouts, holding his ERA at 2.97. That was the ceiling on a night when the rotation is thin — Brandon Woodruff is on the 60-day IL and Kyle Harrison on the 15-day, and Lance McCullers Jr. arrived from Houston this week to help cover the innings.
So the bullpen covered them instead. Chad Patrick, Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill and Craig Yoho each threw a scoreless inning, allowing four hits and no walks combined across the five. Yoho worked a perfect 10th for the win. On the other side, Sandy Alcantara struck out seven over six innings of one-run ball and left with nothing to show for it; Lake Bachar took the loss after two outs in the 10th.
Milwaukee is 60-37, six games clear of Chicago in the NL Central and the only team in the National League within striking distance of the Dodgers’ record. The margin is comfortable enough that the club can spend the next two weeks fixing the rotation rather than the standings.
For fantasy purposes, Yoho is worth a look in deep holds leagues — he now has the seventh, eighth and ninth-inning trust of a manager whose closer, Megill, has 14 saves but pitched the ninth of a tie game here. Mitchell keeps hitting (.277, 45 RBI) and remains a useful streaming outfielder in a lineup this deep.
