Having concluded a brief west coast trip the Brewers return home to take on the Detroit Falcons. Although they are having a rough season, the Falcons come into this series with a slight advantage in their season series with the Brewers, having won 6 of 11 games.
In game 1 of the 4 day series the Brewers even the season series with a 5-2 win behind the terrific pitching of Matt Helm, who just came off the 10-day IL. Helm didn't give up a run in his 7 2/3rds innings pitched, allowing just 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 4 batters. Mike Lizarraga gave up the 2 runs but then gave way to Liann-wei Hua who got the final 2 outs for his 7th save of the season. (Hua also leads the league in Holds with 16 and has a 1.51 ERA.) For Helm it was win #11 to go with 5 losses and a 2.70 ERA. Ryan Rodgers (.375/.496/.461) went 2 for 4 in the lead-off slot, scoring 2 runs and walking once. Bobby Erbakan (.327/.390/.510) went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI.
Cheol-han Lee wasn't sharp early in the second game and gave up 4 runs in the first two innings but he settled down and the Brewers chipped away at the lead and then went ahead with 3 runs in the 7th inning to win 6-4. Cheol-han improves to 12-5 with a 2.94 ERA. Jaden Francis worked the 9th to get his 17th save (1.81 ERA.) Bobby Erbakan (.330/.393/.513) stays hot, going 2 for 3, scoring twice, and hitting his 27th double.
In game 3, the recently hot Bobby Erbakan went full flame, going 2 for 3, scoring twice, hitting a pair of HR's and collecting 6 RBI. This gets Erbakan to 15 HR's and 97 RBI on the season. But to be honest, the balls were flying at Centennial Stadium on this day. Fortunately, most of them came off the bats of Brewers batters. Jonathan Koch hit his 8th and Kevin Curtis his 4th. Harry Lyerly was mostly sharp in this one but did allow a pair of HR's to Detroit catcher Chad Krutchen. Lyerly worked the complete game, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits, striking out 4 and walking none. He improves to 8-9 with a 4.10 ERA. John Flores (.352/.390/.621), hit his 8th triple of the season, in just 161 plate appearances. Anyway, upshot is, Brewers win 11-4.
With a series sweep on the line, both teams struggle to score early in the final game. The Brewers break through with 2 runs in the 4th inning and hold the 2-0 lead into the 7th. Brewer starter Hector Hard was long gone before that though as he had to leave the game in the 5th inning with a forearm cramp. Justin Peacock came in and was fantastic for 2 1/3rds innings, striking out 4, walking none, giving up just 1 hit and keeping the score at 2-0. And then the Brewers erupted for 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th, highlighted by a Bobby Erbakan (.336/.399/.536) grand slam home run. Erbakan went 3 for 4 in the game and now has 16 HR's and 101 RBI- he is the first player in the MGL to 100 RBI this season. Justin Peacock gets the win to improve to 6-1 with a 4.48 ERA.
Having swept the Falcons, the Brewers maintain a 7 game lead in the MGL over Brooklyn, with the 3rd place Charlotte Sting (the Brewers next opponent) now 11 1/2 games out, and Baltimore and the slumping L.A. Spinners now tied at 14 games out.