Padres break loose for 6 runs in the 5th inning and go on to beat the Brewers 7-3

By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jackson Merrill went 3 for 5 and singled home two runs during a six-run rally in the fifth inning as the San Diego Padres defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 7-3 on Monday night.

The game featuring two heralded 20-year-old rookies with the first name of Jackson — San Diego’s Merrill and Milwaukee’s Chourio — included big performances from both.

Chourio went 2 for 4, homered and scored twice. The outfielder’s two-run shot in the second inning gave the Brewers an early 3-0 lead.

The Padres trailed 3-1 before their unusual outburst in the fifth. The rally featured no extra-base hits, but did include six singles, a walk, a passed ball, catcher’s interference and a pitch-clock violation.

“We just took what the game gave us and strung together a lot of good team at-bats and were able to put together a big crooked number to help us take that lead,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “And we were able to hold on to it.”

After consecutive singles from Luis Campusano, Tyler Wade and Xander Bogaerts loaded the bases to start the inning, the Brewers had a conference on the mound and kept starting pitcher Joe Ross in the game.

Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into a fielder’s choice that brought home one run before Wade scored the tying run on a passed ball by catcher William Contreras.

Jake Cronenworth reached on catcher’s interference, loading the bases again, before Manny Machado hit an infield single that brought in Bogaerts with the go-ahead run.

“I had the ball in my glove already when he made contact with me, so I don’t think that should be interference,” Contreras said through a translator about the catcher’s interference call. “But that’s baseball and that’s the rules that are in play.”

Ross struck out Jurickson Profar and had a 3-2 count on Ha-Seong Kim before committing a pitch-clock violation that loaded the bases once more. Merrill, who turns 21 on Friday, singled home two runs and Campusano added an RBI single before Ross exited with the Padres leading 7-3.

“Just a lot of good approaches, guys with the right swings, right ideas,” Shildt said.

Milwaukee brought the tying run to the plate during a ninth-inning rally that began with two outs and nobody on. After Oliver Dunn beat out an infield single and Stephen Kolek walked Chourio, Contreras greeted Robert Suarez with another infield hit.

Suarez then retired Sal Frelick on a fly to left to earn his sixth save in as many opportunities.

The Brewers had taken a 3-0 lead in the first two innings, but wasted chances to break the game open.

Brice Turang grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the first. Chourio’s two-run homer in the second could have been a three-run shot if Blake Perkins hadn’t been thrown out at third earlier in the inning. The Brewers had two runners on with nobody out in the third before Joe Musgrove retired three straight batters to end the threat.

“We didn’t put them away,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We had a chance to put them away, and we didn’t.”

Musgrove (2-2) struck out three and allowed seven hits, four walks and three runs over six innings. Ross (1-1) struck out four and allowed seven runs — six earned — as well as nine hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers OF Christian Yelich missed a third straight game due to a back issue. Murphy said the Brewers plan to wait a day before determining whether to place the 2018 NL MVP on the injured list. Yelich is hitting .333 with a .422 on-base percentage, five homers and 11 RBIs in 11 games.

UP NEXT

RHP Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.16 ERA) pitches for the Padres and LHP Wade Miley (0-0, 2.25) starts for the Brewers when the three-game series continues Tuesday night.

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