It was a rough day for the young pitching staff. Brandon Sproat was hit hard for five runs as the Astros routed the Brewers 9-2 on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
They did start with the lead this time. After a leadoff single from Christian Yelich, he swapped places with Brice Turang on a groundout. With two outs, William Contreras hit a double over left fielder Taylor Trammell and Turang was able to make it home, staking the Brewers to a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
That lead was tested right away. A one-out double from Yordan Alvarez put a runner in scoring position, and then Sproat hit Trammell with a pitch. He escaped the jam thanks to a groundout from Isaac Paredes, keeping the score at 1-0.<\/p>\n
After a quick top of the second for the Brewers, Sproat was challenged again right away. Cam Smith led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a Braden Shewmake groundout. Jake Meyers then singled to right, but Bauers got to it quick and threw it home for a play at the plate. It took a big hop right in front of Contreras, who caught it and went for the tag of Smith. The call on the field was safe, but it was close and manager Pat Murphy challenged it. On replay, it looked like Smith missed the plate initially and Contreras got him, but the call stood. It wasn\u2019t completely certain that Smith missed the plate on replay. Had it been ruled an out, it likely would have also remained an out.<\/p>\n
That challenge would be important for two reasons. Not only did it burn the Brewers\u2019 replay challenge in the second inning, but it also extended the inning. Two batters later, Jeremy Pe\u00f1a homered into the left-field boxes, and the Astros led 3-1.<\/p>\n
Sproat recovered for a couple of innings after that. He got through the third and fourth with minimal problems, allowing just a single while striking out three. Meanwhile, the Brewers got one back in the fifth inning. Garrett Mitchell drew a leadoff walk, and then advanced to second on a wild pitch from Peter Lambert. Yelich drew a two-out walk, and then Jackson Chourio singled to center to score Mitchell.<\/p>\n
Sproat came back out for the fifth, but a combination of rough pitching and defense ended his day. He started the inning by allowing a single to Pe\u00f1a, which deflected off of Joey Ortiz. Pe\u00f1a then stole second to give the Astros another runner in scoring position. After Pe\u00f1a advanced to third on an Alvarez groundout, Sproat hit Christian Walker with a pitch. That ended his day, and Murphy went to Carlos Rodriguez ouf of the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Trammell was the first batter that Rodriguez faced. After an eight-pitch battle, Trammel hit a ground ball right at Andrew Vaughn at first. Vaughn whiffed on the catch, but Turang was right behind him. Rather than take the out at first, Turang threw home to try and get Pe\u00f1a. It was late and Pe\u00f1a scored. It might have been a play the Brewers would have challenged, but with their challenge gone that was not an option. Had Vaughn come up with the ball cleanly, there was a chance for a double play to end the inning. Instead, the Astros had runners at first and second with one out and a 4-2 lead.<\/p>\n
The Brewers\u2019 troubles continued with the next batter, Isaac Paredes. He doubled down the left-field line, scoring both Walker and Trammell, and the Astros\u2019 lead was up to 6-2.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Brewers\u2019 offense just couldn\u2019t get anything going. They had just one more single from the sixth inning on, and the last 11 batters were retired in order.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Astros turned it into a rout in the eighth. After two fly outs to start the inning, Pe\u00f1a singled and Alvarez drew a walk. Murphy went to Jake Woodford, who threw three balls to Walker before a sinker down the middle turned into a three-run home run to right. That made it a 9-2 game, which would be the final score.<\/p>\n