Hall helps Brewers sweep doubleheader vs. Reds
CINCINNATI -- Bob Uecker knew the sort of doubleheader day that awaited the Brewers on Friday at Great American Ball Park, where the temperature peaked at 98 degrees when Devin Williams secured the final out in the 10th inning of a Brewers win in Game 1, and was still a steamy 90 degrees when the first pitch was thrown in a 14-0 win in Game 2.
Uecker played on days like this when the Reds called Crosley Field home, and remembers slipping cabbage leaves under his cap and into his shoes to stay cool. It actually worked, he says -- for a couple of innings.
“I’m telling you, there would be a big tub of cabbage on ice in the dugout,” Uecker said.
Uecker being who he is, he couldn’t help but add, “And that was the players’ meal between games.”
Postgame spreads are a lot better these days, and the Brewers earned every bite on a long day and night at the ballpark that ended with them enjoying a double-digit lead on every other team in the National League Central, and, at 79-56, tied with the Phillies for the second-best record in the NL. That matters because the top two division winners in each league earn first-round byes in the postseason.
DL Hall, called up from Triple-A to serve as Milwaukee’s 27th man for the doubleheader, delivered seven scoreless innings in the best of his seven starts in the big leagues so far (he has 35 total appearances) -- and just the sort of efficient, extended outing the team needed in the nightcap.
Hall outpitched Cincinnati right-hander Rhett Lowder, the Reds’ No. 2 prospect and baseball’s No. 34 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, who battled Brewers hitters for four innings in his Major League debut.