Unlikely Sources Give Brewers 7-3 Victory Over Giants

You know it’s Spring Training When….. (fill in the blank).  How many times have we heard or thought those words?  Well, that’s how last night’s contest between San Francisco and Milwaukee felt.  After tying, yes I said tying in the first of back to back games the Brewers took home their 1st victory of the Spring, winning 7-3.

Starting pitcher Chirs Narveson looked sharp, retiring all six of the Giants he faced and was able to get some good work on a new pitch, the cut fastball.  However the win would go to Frankie De La Cruz thanks to 2 scoreless innings of pitching and some timely hitting by the Brewers.  

Milwaukee won with a makeshift outfield as Ryan Braun was held out of action as part of his agreement with manager Ron Roenicke to play every other day through Spring Training and of course no Corey Hart in Right Field, where Nyjer Morgan started on Monday.  

This game also saw the limited return of Rickie Weeks to the lineup as he was the DH in this game.  He got off to a smashing start, smacking a lead off double to start the game.

Sometimes Spring Training can bring you some very strange things and yesterday was one of those nights.  San Francisco held a 3-0 lead going into the top of the sixth.  That’s when the Brewers offense opened up the flood gates and got some help from a bad Giants defense.  

Milwaukee really got things going from some unlikely sources staring in the sixth inning.  Things got off to an interesting start as Carlos Gomez put one into play and forced a throwing error by third baseman Pablo Sandoval.  Gomez again showed off his speed by stealing 2nd and advancing to third on a ground out by Alex Gonzalez.  

With just one out Mat Gamel plated Gomez on a groundout to 2nd, making the score 3-1 with 2 outs.  But that’s when things really turned around thanks to some really unexpected sources.  George Kottaras got a rare walk and Zelous Wheeler came in to replace Tyler Green.  Wheeler made the most of his 1st plate apperance as he smacked a 2 run homer to make the game 3-3.  Again, you know it’s Spring Training When… Zelous Wheeler makes an apperance 

Victory wouldn’t have to wait long for the Brewers as they got two more runs in the 7th inning, again off a comedy of errors by the Giants and some timely hitting by the Brewers.  After Brooks Conrad struck out as Rickie Weeks replacement at DH the Giants walked Caleb Gindl.  Logan Schafer was also a victim of a strike out.

But with two outs the Brewers came alive again.  Shortstop Jeff Bianchi singled to left and pushed Gindl to third.  Up next was Travis Ishikawa and the Brewers would benefit from terrible fielding as he hit what should’ve been a routine fly ball to left field, but it was dropped and allowed Gindl and Bianchi to score, giving the Brewers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Brewers added runs in each of the next two innings, including an Ishikawa homer in the 9th to blow the game open and take down the 7-3 victory.  Getting the save for the Brewers was Josh Butler.  

Up next for the Brewers is a home contest this afternoon against Oakland.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:05pm Central and may be a lot of Brewers fans first time to see the Crew in action as it airs on FSN.  If you are at the office there’s always MLB.tv or the MLB at bat app (which this writer happens to think is the best app out there for the iPhone).  Enjoy the game and if you’d like to join us on Twitter this afternoon I’ll be jumping on our account to give you my thoughts during the game.  Hope you’ll join in the discussion there and let’s play ball!!