The Portland Wild Things came into this 2-day, 3-game series with the Brewers having lost 9 straight games.They left Denver with a 12-game losing streak.
In game 1 of the Sunday double-header the Brewers got a fine complete game performance from veteran lefty starter Erik Sloan. Sloan gave up 2 runs on 8 hits as the Brewers won 7-2. His record improves to 8-6 with a 3.85 ERA. Chad Brown (.302/.318/.426) continuing his recent success at the plate, went 3 for 4 in the lead off slot, collecting his 5th triple and driving in 1 run. Oscar Vargas went 3 for 4 in the game and hit his 5th double. John Flores (.381/.410/.718) continued his fine season as the 5th outfielder, hitting his 6th HR and driving in a pair of runs.
In the night-cap the Brewers took an early lead, nearly coughed it up late in the game but then rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to earn a 16-9 victory. Matt Helm wasn't great- giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in his 6 1/3rd innings pitched. Eric Johnson, in relief of Helm, was worse, allowing 5 runs in just an inning and a third. On the other hand, Oscar Vargas (.284/.360/.463) was once again terrific, going 3 for 4, scoring 3 runs and driving in 4, hitting his 6th double and 2nd HR. There were many offensive heroes for the Brewers in this one as the first 4 hitters (Josh Schaeffer, Joe Willemse, Ryan Rodgers, and Joe McPhillips) combined to go 10 for 17 with 8 runs scored and 6 RBI. (Willemse stole his 1st base of the season while McPhillips swiped base number 12. Rodgers (15), Willemse (9), and McPhillips (13) all doubled, while Schaeffer hit his 2nd triple of 1974). And what about the wonderful rookie catcher Zacarias Martell? Martell (.304/.404/.380) chipped in with a 3 for 5 game in the 8 hole, hitting his 11th double.
In the final game of the series the Brewers hitters continued to show how much they love hitting at Centennial Stadium, as they pounded 20 hits on the way to an 11-4 win and a sweep of the lowly Wild Things. Justin Peacock got the start for the Brewers and wasn't fantastic, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in his 5 innings pitched, but with all that run support he improved to 4-1 on the season with a 4.33 ERA. Jordan Stephens pitched a solid 2 2/3rds behind him to cool off the Wild Things bats and help make this an easy victory. And continuing his season long trend he picked up a hit in his lone at-bat and now has a slash line of .469/.528/.656. Ryan Rodgers (.393/.505/.473), getting hot at home finds his batting average creeping back up towards .400 once again. He went 3 for 3 with 2 runs and 2 walks in this one. Joe Willemse (.291/.329/.350) continues to impress as he gets more playing time with Jonathan Koch on the IL, and in this one Willemse goes 3 for 6 with a run and a RBI. And Mike Foster (.356/.405/.511) continues his break-out season with a 2 for 4, 3 RBI game and hit his 8th HR. And okay, I guess I better give some love to Bobby Erbakan too. Erbakan (.317/.377/.491) was 3 for 5, drove in 3 runs to bring his team-best total thus far to 65, tied for 2nd in the MGL, and stole his 9th base of the season. (A quick note about the continuing maturation of Erbakan at the plate. In 1968, his first full season in the bigs, at the age of 21, Erbakan walked 16 times and struck out 121 times. And while those numbers have improved each year since, for the first time last season he walked more times (44) than he struck out (33). While he isn't on target for quite as big a differential this season, he is once again walking more than striking out (29 to 28.))
With the 3-game sweep of Portland and Charlotte dropping 2 of 3 versus Phoenix the Brewers expand their lead to 3 1/2 games over the Sting, 8 1/2 ahead of Brooklyn and 10 1/2 better than L.A. And this home cooking has the Brewers league leading team batting average over .300 once again (.301).