Crew snaps southpaw struggles in emphatic fashion

MILWAUKEE -- Going into Saturday night’s game against Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, the Brewers had reason to believe they might hit poorly -- and win.

They were batting .212 against lefties, second-worst in the NL behind the Dodgers. They were also second-worst in OPS and OBP.

But in the win-loss column, Milwaukee was 4-2 versus left-handed starters.

Some patterns eventually break.

The Brewers scored seven runs on Detmers and held on to win, 7-5, at American Family Field, defeating Los Angeles for the second straight night.

It didn’t start auspiciously.

Detmers, who is in his third season, was perfect through the first two innings, recording five strikeouts. He featured what Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said was a bullet slider.

The bats came alive in the third inning, when Milwaukee took a 3-0 lead.

Victor Caratini turned an eight-pitch plate appearance into a walk, went to third on Owen Miller’s double and scored on Joey Wiemer’s groundout.

It was fitting that Wiemer got the RBI. He is the Brewers’ best hitter against southpaws, hitting .350 and belting both of his home runs against them. Miller scored when Willy Adames’ line-drive single to center field popped out of the glove of a diving Mike Trout.

Against lefties, Adames is hitting just .167. He scored on William Contreras’ 112 mph line-drive double to left-center field.

Contreras is an exception. He is hitting .364 against lefties, .307 overall.

“We laid off some pitches," Counsell said. "[Detmers] left one over the middle for Contreras. We got some better pitches to hit and obviously the second time through we had seen him. It started with Vic having a good at-bat, Owen Miller doubled on a tough pitch that was up and in, and just some big two-out hits by Willy and William.”

In the fifth inning, Milwaukee used a walk, a single and an error by third baseman Anthony Rendon to load the bases with no outs. Detmers exited after walking Contreras to put the Brewers up 4-1.

Milwaukee went on to score three more after Detmers was replaced by right-hander Andrew Wantz. Only four of Detmers’ seven runs were earned.

The Brewers had gripes with home-plate umpire Adam Beck that eventually escalated into the team’s first ejections this season.

Contreras had words with Beck after being called out to end the first inning and Luke Voit lingered around the batter’s box after being called out to end the second.

In the sixth inning, with a 1-0 count, Adames tried to call time out, but it wasn't granted and Beck called Jaime Barría’s 82 mph slider a strike. Adames voiced his displeasure and was then called for a batter pitch timer violation. Counsell objected and got tossed. With the count at 1-2, Adames swung and missed at the next pitch, yelled at Beck and got ejected himself.

After the called strike, “there was a conversation happening” between Beck and Adames, Counsell said. Milwaukee's manager believed the clock should not run when a conversation is happening.

In contrast to Detmers, Brewers starter Corbin Burnes had a rocky start to his otherwise solid outing, but he allowed only one run in six innings while striking out five. The right-hander struggled through a 23-pitch first inning, after giving up two singles to start the game. He surrendered the run on a Trout sacrifice fly, after giving up two singles to start the fifth.

Burnes got sick and lost 10 to 12 pounds in three days following his April 17 start in Seattle. Weakened, he nevertheless lasted five innings his next outing on April 23 against the Red Sox, allowing three runs -- two earned -- and striking out five. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his last four starts.

The 2021 NL Cy Young winner was making his first career start against the team he followed while growing up in Bakersfield, Calif.

Milwaukee’s bullpen -- which entered the game with 17 consecutive scoreless innings and an NL-leading 2.70 ERA -- faltered.

In the eighth inning, Trout made the score 7-3 with a Statcast-projected 428-foot home run to center field off Elvis Peguero.

Two runners were on base with no outs when Peguero was replaced by Peter Strzelecki. Strzelecki struck out Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Drury and got Taylor Ward to fly out.

Trout struck again in the ninth inning, with another two-run homer. It took closer Devin Williams -- who entered with two outs -- to shut the door. He gave up a single to Shohei Ohtani, but got Rendon to fly out to earn his fifth save in five chances.