Crew overcomes thin 'pen with late magic

After the Reds came into Milwaukee and took a series from the Brewers before the All-Star break, the Brewers went to Cincinnati to begin the second half and returned the favor.

It certainly did not come easily on Saturday night.

Getting go-ahead RBIs in the seventh, the 10th and again in the 11th, the Brewers managed to outlast the Reds, 7-4, at Great American Ball Park to extend Milwaukee’s lead to six games over second-place Cincinnati in the National League Central standings. Christian Yelich drove in one run in the Brewers’ three-run seventh inning and another in a three-run 11th with a leadoff RBI double that gave his team the lead for good.

• Box score

“The fight has been there every single day,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Behind, ahead -- late in games, we've been good. We've put pressure on teams and made them make pitches, made them make plays. That's a trait of a good team, I think.”

The Brewers can make it a three-game sweep in the series finale behind Corbin Burnes, who will no doubt be counted on to pitch deep into the game to spare a bullpen that worked into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

It wasn’t just the relievers; everyone worked into the wee hours. When Luis Urías sat down in the Brewers’ Zoom room after a victory that spanned four hours and 37 minutes, plus a 43-minute rain delay, he stifled a yawn.

“That was a long game,” Urías said. “Thank God we won.”

“It felt like almost three different games,” Counsell said.

It started with Brandon Woodruff steaming over a series of what Counsell called “baffling” calls in the Reds’ two-run second inning, when the Brewers were sure they’d win a challenge on a pickoff attempt of Tyler Naquin at first base but were denied. But Yelich, Willy Adames and Omar Narváez delivered RBIs in successive plate appearances against the Cincinnati bullpen in the seventh for a 3-2 lead and rookie slider specialist Jake Cousins held it in the bottom of the inning despite his 1-2-3 effort being interrupted by the rain delay.

In the eighth, however, the Brewers felt the loss of setup man and reigning National League Rookie of the Year Devin Williams after placing him on the 10-day IL with a right elbow issue about 30 minutes before Saturday’s first pitch. Brad Boxberger pitched in Williams’ place in the eighth inning with a one-run lead and served up a tying home run to Jonathan India before departing with shoulder tightness.

The Brewers don’t consider the matter serious, Counsell said, but it meant bringing Brent Suter into the game for the remainder of the eighth inning, then Josh Hader, who pitched a scoreless ninth. That left the rest of the game to organizational newcomer Jandel Gustave, who saw a 4-3 lead get away in the 10th inning but preserved a three-run advantage in the 11th.

“Gustave hasn't pitched much since he's been here, then he had some time off, so that was heroic what he did tonight,” Counsell said. “It was incredible.”

Ditto for Urías, who was charged with a tough error in the 10th inning that helped the Reds tie the game, but bookended that play with two absolute gems. In the ninth, with Hader looking a bit shaky again after a leadoff walk, Urías snared Kyle Farmer’s grounder down the third-base line. Had the ball got by him, it could have been a walk-off extra-base hit. Instead, Urías initiated a double play that helped push the game to extra innings.

In the 11th, with Gustave battling Aristides Aquino for a 10-pitch at-bat, Urías lunged into foul territory to catch a line drive for the second out of the inning. When the Brewers intentionally walked Kyle Farmer, all Gustave had to do was retire a pinch-hitting pitcher, Wade Miley, to end the game.

“I don’t know how I did it,” Urías said. “We were playing ‘no doubles’ right there. I don’t know how I caught that one, but it was fun.”

Then there were Yelich’s contributions. He drove in two runs, including the go-ahead RBI, and scampered home to score an insurance run in what became a three-run 11th.

“It was just showing the way Christian can impact the game,” Counsell said. “Christian's got this amazing trait where it doesn't look like he's going to get there and then he starts just covering ground like crazy when he gets to full speed. That's what happened on that play.

“I think the best thing is just like, we've talked about this with anybody, just be right in the middle of a win. And that's what he was tonight. That's a great feeling when you're scuffling a little bit to get yourself right. [Doing] things that put you right in the middle of a win can make you feel great, and that helps you, for sure.”