Bottom of lineup, bullpen heroics fuel Brewers' sweep of Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- If you refer to a baseball team using the term “circus,” that’s usually a bad thing. So instead, let’s call the Brewers’ 8-7 victory over the Twins on Sunday a carnival of sorts. It had a little bit of everything and something for everyone, a celebration of the sport on a steamy summer afternoon at Target Field.

Do you like feats of power? The Brewers gave up three home runs and hit four of their own, including Rhys Hoskins' two-run shot in the eighth inning that broke a 5-5 tie.

“Hoskins coming through, the mental toughness that it takes to struggle the way he’s gone through it,” manager Pat Murphy said. “Every hit he gets is a big hit, it seems like.”

If you’re a fan of the little guy, how about Eric Haase? The journeyman catcher was called up from Triple-A Nashville just before the All-Star break. All he’s done since then is hit .429 (9-for-21) with three homers and eight RBIs in six starts. On Sunday, the Brewers’ No. 9 hitter belted solo shots in the third and ninth innings, the latter giving the Brewers a much-needed insurance run.

"'We need more [runs].’ That’s obviously on my mind,” Haase said of his ninth-inning homer that stretched Milwaukee’s lead to 8-5. “We trust our back-end bullpen guys, but this Twins offense doesn’t go away. They just continue to have good at-bats and make things interesting.”

Earlier, Jackson Chourio had tied the game at 5 with a solo homer leading off the seventh, a no-doubter into the Target Field Home Run Deck that traveled a Statcast-projected 443 feet.

That was just one of the many ways Chourio impacted this weekend’s sweep. He went 5-for-9 in the series with a double, a homer, two stolen bases, three runs scored and five RBIs. He also made a diving catch in the gap to end Saturday’s game, followed by a catch up along the netting in foul territory in left field on Sunday.

“These two games, you’d walk away saying, ‘Wow, that kid deserves $150 million.’ We got him cheap,” Murphy said. “If you watch these two games, he’s having fun.”

Those who like a little danger with their entertainment must have enjoyed the daring tightrope act performed by Milwaukee’s bullpen.

Jared Koenig, who came off the IL before Sunday's contest, entered with a tie game in the bottom of the seventh and promptly issued a walk and gave up a single. But he settled down and retired the next three hitters to escape damage.

In the eighth, after Hoskins’ homer gave the Brewers a two-run lead, Elvis Peguero made it even tougher on himself by giving up two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. But Peguero buckled down, retiring Manuel Margot on a soft fly to center and striking out Willi Castro and Ryan Jeffers to end the threat.

And in the ninth, with Haase’s homer having stretched the lead to 8-5, closer Trevor Megill came on and made it interesting immediately. He allowed Byron Buxton’s leadoff homer, and Max Kepler just missed following suit on the next pitch.

Kepler stayed in the park for a double, and he moved to third on a fly ball and scored on an infield grounder. Then, with a left-handed home-run threat in Matt Wallner in the box, Megill slipped a knuckle-curve past him for strike three to end the game.

Afterwards, Murphy was especially concerned with the seven walks issued by Brewers pitching.

“We didn’t attack the zone the same way as I thought we had been. Maybe it’s the break, who knows what. But I think collectively, it wasn’t our normal attack-the-zone pitching game,” Murphy said. “There [were] good performances. Peguero getting out of that jam is a credit to him -- two punchouts and a short flyball. Koenig getting out of his mess, and then Megill getting out of his mess. I thought there was some good there.”

The hot start out of the All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Brewers, who head to Chicago for a three-game set at Wrigley Field starting Monday. Just don’t expect them to dwell on their weekend success for long.

“You can’t get caught up in what you’ve done,” Murphy said. “You’ve got to get caught up in the next battle. Just be competitive in your next battle, because they’re all different.”