Turang shakes off broken helmet, thriving at leadoff for Crew

HOUSTON -- From the department of “you don’t see that every day,” Brewers second baseman Brice Turang needed a new helmet after being struck in the head by the throw as he stole third base in the top of the first inning on Sunday against the Astros.

Turang was unharmed and wore a Sal Frelick model helmet for the rest of the inning. He finished with three hits, including a two-run single, as Milwaukee briefly made it a ballgame in the seventh inning, but unfortunately, that early disaster avoided was about all that went right in a 9-4 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Starter Colin Rea saw a 1-0 lead turn into a 4-1 deficit in a long first inning of a shaky start. Relievers Thyago Vieira and Mitch White surrendered homers to Astros slugger Kyle Tucker. A Willy Adames deep drive that might have given the Brewers the lead in a promising seventh inning fell short of the wall for an out. And William Contreras’ 25-game on-base streak -- the longest in the Majors -- finally came to an end in a loss that denied the Brewers from reaching 10 games over .500 for the first time this season.

“[The Astros] have good players on their team,” said Turang, referring to a Houston club that has won nine of its last 11 games following a 12-24 start. “It’s early in the season and things turn quick. They played well in this series.”

Turang is playing well himself, slashing .314/.369/.431 and finding himself in a long stretch of leadoff opportunities as the Brewers seek someone to take hold of that spot in the batting order. He doubled to lead off Sunday’s rubber match against Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, and, with Christian Yelich batting, took off for third and stole it successfully. That boosted Turang to 18-for-18 on steal attempts this season.

But in the process, catcher Victor Caratini’s throw struck Turang on the top of the helmet and broke off the C-flap that protects Turang’s face when he’s at the plate. Head athletic trainer Scott Barringer checked on Turang just to be sure, and a new helmet was procured.

“The ball hit me straight in the forehead, and maybe as it hit me my head went into the ground and snapped it,” Turang said. “It didn’t just fall off, it broke the plastic underneath. If it would have got me in the ear or something, it could have been bad. Good thing it hit me in the forehead.”

Said manager Pat Murphy: “It’s always nerve-wracking when a guy gets hit and you hear that helmet sound. He seems to be OK. He played well after that.”

The Brewers are in a stretch of thrillers -- Adames high-fiving fans after a go-ahead homer in Kansas City, Robert Gasser’s brilliant debut against the Cardinals, Contreras’ epic battle with Justin Verlander here in Houston on Saturday night -- but Sunday’s finale was not among them. After Turang scored in the top of the first for an early Brewers lead, the Astros struck back with four runs in the bottom of the inning against Rea, who allowed the leadoff man to reach safely in each of the five innings he took the mound.

“Colin didn’t have his best game, but at the same time, he battled and gave us a lot of innings. The five that he gave us were crucial,” Murphy said. “We didn’t do a great job after that.”

Rea was charged with five earned runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. The Brewers were in a 6-1 hole before they mounted their most serious threat in the seventh.

It came up just short. When Turang’s two-run single off Astros reliever Bryan Abreu and Yelich’s RBI hit briefly made it a ballgame again with the Brewers down, 6-4, Adames hit a deep drive toward center that looked like it had a chance to give Milwaukee the lead. According to Statcast, it would have been a home run in 16 of 30 MLB stadiums, including American Family Field.

In Houston, it was an inning-ending out. The Astros pulled away again with three runs in the bottom of the inning on Tucker’s homer off White, his second home run of the day.

“The one Willy hit to center, I thought he got that,” Turang said. “Sometimes you hit it to the wrong part of the park. If he hits that to left, that ball is off the train tracks.”