Brewers blow out Tigers behind 10-run outburst, Myers' stellar start

DETROIT -- The Brewers have provided an interesting example of just how confounding baseball offenses can be.

Milwaukee scored eight runs Friday night off Tigers starter Reese Olson, a former Brewers’ Draft pick who sported a 2.48 ERA prior to taking the 10-0 loss at Comerica Park.

That was coming off the Brewers scoring two runs on 15 total hits over three consecutive losses at Philadelphia earlier this week.

And that drought broke Milwaukee’s five-game winning streak in which it scored 7.6 runs per victory -- starting with hanging seven runs on Shota Imanaga, the Cubs’ rookie phenom who had allowed seven runs in his previous 53 2/3 innings.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy was asked prior to Friday’s game about the challenges of running a team through such dramatic and sudden highs and lows.

“These guys play with great energy,” said Murphy. “They play pitch to pitch. They’ve made up their minds they’ve got to score runs. They know it.”

So, he didn’t try to explain it. Probably because there is no way to explain it.

Milwaukee scored five runs in the second inning and added three runs in the fourth to pull away early. It was more than enough for rookie starter Tobias Myers, who limited Detroit to a leadoff single in the first inning and three walks over eight scoreless innings for his first career quality start.

“If anyone’s ever pitched and they have an offense that does that for them,” said Myers, “they would know that it just frees you up. It literally helps you get to that point of executing one pitch at a time.”

Murphy was asked to choose whether the offense or Myers was more impressive.

“I thought Tobias was fantastic and I always include [catcher] William Contreras in there because that was a great matchup in there,” said Murphy. “They teamed up and did a great job. Tobias needs that guidance, and William being there every step of the way with him was brilliant.

“And our offense was good. They stayed relentless, and kept putting it on them.”

Milwaukee traded Olson to the Tigers for veteran left-hander Daniel Norris at the Trade Deadline in 2021.

“He’s a great pitcher, man,” Murphy said of Olson. “We hated losing him. That was an agonizing trade and movement of that guy, and everyone was so high on the kid, and he’s got a great future. We just happened to get to him today. He’s outstanding.”

No. 9 hitter Blake Perkins hit the first two triples of his career, Brice Turang recorded four hits and two RBIs, while Christian Yelich tacked on three hits as well.

“They’re hungry,” said Murphy. “You know, they’re playing hungry. Rhys Hoskins [who doubled and scored in the second] hasn’t played in a year and he’s hungry. Yelich wants to lead this team the way he is. It’s great to see … they’re a great bunch.

Perkins said the source of that hunger are team veterans such as Yelich, Hoskins and Willy Adames. Murphy terms those three and Contreras the “four pillars” of the division-leading Brewers.

“I think there was a little fire in there from the [Phillies] series and we’re not satisfied with how that turned out,” Perkins said. “But it’s a long year and it showed today. We were having fun. You go on hot streaks. You go on cold streaks. You’re just trying to make the cold streaks or the lulls shorter.”

The Brewers scored 10 runs for the ninth time this season, this time doing so without a homer.

“I just think it’s the mentality,” said Murphy. “These guys understand that [Olson] has good stuff, and they understand. They’re hitting the ball the other way when it’s called for. They hit line drives when it’s called for. They’re not just trying to go deep.

“They’re trying to play the game. They base-run … that’s part of our game, and that’s just how we play offense. We want to hit home runs, no question. But we really believe home runs are thrown, and even when they’re thrown, they’re hard to do it. It’s hard to execute it.”

The Brewers took what was given to them in this one, and turned the basepaths into a merry-go-round.