SAN DIEGO – The Milwaukee Brewers offense did its job on Friday night, sending San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease to the showers in the fifth inning.
The bullpen? That was a different story.
Following up an efficient yet less-than-sharp Colin Rea, Jared Koenig, Hoby Milner, Elvis Peguero and Enoli Paredes were all hit around. A three-run lead in the fifth inning quickly disappeared and the end result was a 9-5 loss at Petco Park.
BOX SCORE: Padres 9, Brewers 5
The Brewers' relief corps allowed nine hits and four runs (three earned) in 2 ⅔ innings one game after Joel Payamps surrendered a walkoff homer to Jake Cronenworth in Thursday's 7-6 loss.
"We had to use the bullpen the last few days," said manager Pat Murphy, who indicated Bryan Hudson was one key reliever who was unavailable due to recent workload. Jakob Junis, who was reinstated from the 60-day injured list before the game, also didn't see action – perhaps with multiple innings in mind for him Saturday behind rookie Carlos Rodriguez.
"Our bullpen has been great all year. Our pitching staff has been great all year. So, a blip like this is part of it. Still proud of our guys. We got (Cease) out of there in five innings, and to get a No. 1 out of there in five innings is a sign of something good.
"Our bullpen has been great, and I'm not going to start getting down on them."
Cronenworth has been a force in the series, as he homered again Friday and finished 5 for 5 with two runs batted in and four runs scored. He has two homers, seven hits, six runs scored and three RBI through the first two games.
"He's a good player," Murphy said.
Tyler Black's speed shifts the momentum
Rookie Tyler Black got his second straight start and made his presence felt in the fifth with the Brewers down, 1-0.
It started with him working an eight-pitch walk from Cease. Black then stole second on the next pitch, went to third on a bounced throw over to first base on a Jackson Chourio infield hit and scored on a grounder to third when his hand touched the plate just before Higashioka tagged him.
Black was initially ruled out by home plate umpire Jansen Visconti, but the Brewers challenged successfully for the second time on the night.
William Contreras and Yelich each followed with RBI singles in rapid succession to give Milwaukee its first lead at 3-1. Two batters later Cease was removed from the game with his pitch count already at 106.
"He punched out 10 guys but still, we battled," Murphy said after his team whiffed a season-high 15 times. Cease allowed just two hits and a run over six innings in beating the Brewers in Milwaukee on April 16. "That's what it takes. That's what a good offense does."
That stood in stark contrast to Rea, who needed just 43 to navigate the first four frames.
Left-hander Tom Cosgrove was brought in to face Frelick but that backfired for San Diego as Kyle Higashioka was called for catcher's interference on a Frelick swing. Then, Rhys Hoskins pulled a single down the third-base line that scored Contreras.
Luis Arráez makes Colin Rea pay
Rea's command hadn't been too bad entering the fifth; he'd walked a batter and also hit one.
He recorded the first two outs of the frame but couldn't finish it off as No. 9 hitter Higashioka drew a six-pitch walk. Two pitches later Luis Arráez, not known for his power, went down and turned on a cutter that was actually out of the zone and pulled it down the right-field line for a homer to cut Milwaukee's lead to a run.
"We don't want that to happen right there, but I felt like overall we did a good job of getting ahead all night," Rea said. "We just weren't putting them away."
After the offense went down in order in the sixth, Rea allowed the game-tying homer to Cronenworth.
Manny Machado doubled on the next pitch and Murphy wasted no time pulling Rea despite his pitch count sitting at only 69. Two pitches later, Koenig surrendered the lead as Donovan Solano came off the bench to single in Machado with two outs.
The three-run lead tied for the largest surrendered by the Brewers in a loss this season (third time, first since May 12).
Rea allowed six hits, five runs and two walks while not striking out a batter.
"They're kind of locked in right now," Rea said. "It's a good lineup, and you've got to put them away when you get ahead of them."
Milwaukee draws even in the seventh – for a bit
Christian Yelich and Willy Adames each singled with one out in the seventh, with Adames getting a friendly roll on a swinging bunt that rolled down the third-base line and was stopped by the bag.
That brought up Sal Frelick, who grounded one to shortstop. Ha-Seong Kim got the out at second but made a wild throw to first and Yelich scored to knot the score at 5-5.
The error was San Diego's fourth, with two coming on catcher's interference.
But the Padres again punched back against Milner in the bottom half, with Jurickson Profar doubling and then who else but Cronenworth driving in the go-ahead run with a single to left as he improved to 4 for 4 in the game.
Peguero replaced Milner (3-1) but things continued to deteriorate as the first four batters he faced reached base via single, single, walk and an error charged to Brice Turang on a chopper to the right side.
That left it 8-5. In the fifth, sixth and seventh innings the Padres sent 22 batters to the plate.
"Again, our pitching staff has won us a lot of games," Murphy said. "There's been a lot of 2-0, 2-1. This was not normal. Koenig gave up some runs; he's been great. Hoby gave up some hits, Peguero.
"That's the way it goes.
Paredes allowed three hits and a run in the eighth as he finished up for the Brewers.
To make room for Junis on the 26-man roster, the Brewers optioned right-hander Bradley Blalock back to Class AA Biloxi. Blalock made his major-league debut on Thursday, pitching a scoreless eighth.
Brewers time, TV, radio
The Brewers game starts at 8:40 p.m. Friday.
TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620 and a state network.
Brewers lineup
Brice Turang 2B
William Contreras C
Christian Yelich LF
Willy Adames SS
Sal Frelick CF
Rhys Hoskins DH
Tyler Black 1B
Joey Ortiz 3B
Jackson Chourio RF
Padres lineup
Luis Arráez 1B
Fernando Tatis Jr. RF
Jurickson Profar LF
Jake Cronenworth 2B
Manny Machado 3B
Jackson Merrill CF
David Peralta DH
Ha-Seong Kim SS
Kyle Higashioka C
Brewers schedule
Brewers at Padres, 6:15 p.m.Saturday:Milwaukee RHP Carlos Rodriguez (0-2, 6.48) vs. San Diego RHP Randy Vásquez (1-4, 5.70). Broadcasts: TV – FOX. Radio – AM-620.
Brewers at Padres, 3:10 p.m.Sunday:Milwaukee RHP Tobias Myers (4-2, 3.26) vs. San Diego RHP Michael King (5-4, 3.49). Broadcasts: TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Padres 9, Brewers 5: Bad night for the bullpen
