The Brewers spotted the Nationals a 6-0 lead on Sunday…then proceeded to score 6 runs in the 6th inning, eventually taking a 6-6 tie into the bottom of the 9th. Guillermo Mota put men on 1st and 3rd with one out…then threw a wild pitch to hand the Nationals a 7-6 defeat of the Brewers.
Manny Parra was a bit off, surrendering 6 earned runs over 4 1/3 IP, raising his ERA back over 5 to 5.11.
The Crew offense tied the game in the 6th–first Corey Hart hit a 2-run shot; then, Russell Branyan hit a double to right, scoring on Joe Dillon’s pinch-hit single with two outs…then Rickie Weeks got hit by a pitch and both he and Dillon scored on a Mike Cameron double, followed by Gabe Kapler singling in Cameron. If the players seem a bit unusual to you today, that’s because Ned Yost opted to replace his entire left side of his position players, partly due to the left-handed Parra pitching, and partly in response to the Nats throwing a right-handed pitcher at the Crew and Yost wanting some more left-handed bats in the line-up…so Counsell filled in for Hardy; Branyan for Hall, and Kapler for Braun (who was benched due to a head cold).
Anyway…despite poor pitching by Manny Parra, the Brewers had a chance to win it, but Mota had a bad outing…if the Brewers miss the playoffs by a game, this is one of those that they’ll be able to point to and say to themselves ‘we should have won that Sunday game in D.C.’
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