Tagged: Mets

MIL 11, NYM 9: Beast Mode sparks rally in 9th

Prince Fielder crushed his 28th homer and drove in 4 in Milwaukee's 11-9 comeback win in New York.

Milwaukee southpaw Randy Wolf cruised into the seventh inning with a 7-1 lead over the New York Mets Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. Then things began to unravel. The Mets scored five runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to take a 9-7 lead into the ninth inning. However, Milwaukee wasn’t ready to pack it in quite yet. The final act of the game began when Jason Isringhausen took the hill, the rest as they say, is history.

Lucroy walked, Morgan walked, Hart singled.

Then Kotsay walked, scoring Lucroy. 9-8, Mets.

Isringhausen exited, Acosta entered. Braun flew out.

With 1 out, Fielder singled on an 0-2 pitch, scoring Morgan. 9-9.

McGehee then took the first pitch he saw and pushed a grounder through the hole scoring Hart and Kotsay to give the Brewers a 11-9 lead. Then, as is usual, the Ax Man locked it down 1-2-3, earning his 34th straight save and 37th overall.

Milwaukee picked up K-Rod, who got roughed up in his return to the Big Apple. But as good teams — championship caliber teams — do, the Brewers never gave up and stunned Citi Field. Prince Fielder was in full beast mode, going 2-for-5 with a single, home run (28), and four RBI, pushing his season total to a National League-leading 96. Yuniesky Betancourt cranked out his 10th long ball. Ryan Braun went 1-for-3 with a homer (24), two walks and three runs scored. His season batting average sits at .327.

The Brewers have now won 21 of 24 and extended their division lead to 8.5 games, the largest in franchise history.

A signature win for the Brew Crew

It may be mid-90’s in Wisconsin these days… but it’s still not as hot out as Prince Fielder is at the dish. Prince smoked two key home runs in a dramatic 7-6 come from behind victory over the New York Mets Wednesday night. Wow. What a game. Starter Randy Wolf gave the Crew a solid outing, pitching 6.2 innings and surrendering only a single run. Kameron Loe came on in the 7th, getting the third out of the inning on just one pitch. However, he struggled mightily in the 8th, giving up 5 earned runs and deflating the Milwaukee faithful. Lefty Zach Braddock got the Crew out of the mess, but the damage was done. The Brewers entered the bottom of the 8th inning trailing 6-2, yet never blinked. After Craig Counsell walked, Rickie Weeks grounded into a fielders choice. Nyjer Morgan was next, lining a single into right field, putting runners on first and second. All-Star slugger Ryan Braun followed by hitting a ringing double in the left-center gap scoring both Weeks and Morgan, cutting the deficit to two. With Braunie on second, Prince stepped to the plate and blasted a monster home run to deep left-center field, his second of the game and sixth in his last six games, tying the ballgame 6-6. John Axford, back from being with his wife for the birth of their son, pitched a scoreless top half of the 9th. In the bottom of the inning, Counsell worked the count to his favor, then singled sharply into left with one out. After a check swing strikeout by Weeks, Nyjer Morgan, a.k.a. Tony Plush, stepped into the batters box and promptly smacked a double into right field scoring Counsell from second and giving the Brewers a heart thumping walk-off win. It was a signature W for a Milwaukee club who boasts an insane 22-8 record at home, the best in the Bigs. The Brewers go for the series win tomorrow, as Yovani Gallardo is set to take the mound against Met’s starter Jon Niese.

Some other interesting tidbits:

  • The Brewers have not lost consecutive home games in 2011.
  • Milwaukee’s bullpen had an astounding 1.88 ERA in its previous 72 innings before Kameron Loe’s horrendous 8th.
  • With his two homers, Prince Fielder passed Gorman Thomas for sole possession of third place on Milwaukee’s all-time home run list. Fielder (209) is only 4 home runs away from passing Geoff Jenkins for second place.
  • Casey McGehee’s 7th inning single up the middle snapped his 0-for-27 skid at the plate.
  • According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Randy Wolf committed the first balk of his career – he had the most innings pitched without a balk in the majors up to that point (1,968.2). The new active leader in innings pitched without a balk is Chad Billingsley of the Dodgers (906).