Rookies Pratt, Lara combine for 6 RBIs to make franchise history for Brewers

MILWAUKEE – A little more than a month ago, Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara were teammates at Triple-A Nashville awaiting their chance in the Major Leagues.

The 21-year-olds are now entrenched in the Brewers lineup and on Saturday night they combined for six RBIs, three apiece, marking the most combined RBIs by players 21 or younger in a single game in franchise history.

There have been high expectations for Pratt (Milwaukee's No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline) and Lara (No. 4) -- and some ups and downs, as expected, along the way -- but their combined performance at the plate in the 8-5 win over the Rockies made an impression on manager Pat Murphy.

“They were great. It feels good to have those young guys start to feel more that they belong,” a smiling Murphy said. “How many 21-year-olds are there in the Majors? You can count them on two hands. It's great to have them be part of it.”

Pratt’s first Major League home run came on Monday as part of a three-hit game for the Brewers rookie shortstop that helped lead them to an 8-3 win over the Mets.

The second round-tripper of his young career, a Statcast-projected 409-foot solo shot with an exit velocity of 102.3 mph, came with two outs in the second inning on a four-seam fastball from Rockies starter Ryan Feltner to stake the Brewers to a 2-0 lead in Saturday’s game.

But Pratt, batting eighth in the lineup, wasn’t done. After the Rockies plated two runs in the top of the fourth off Robert Gasser to tie it, Pratt put the Brewers back in front in the bottom of the frame with a two-out run-scoring single to right that deflected off the glove of second baseman Willi Castro as a boisterous chant of “Coop!” rained down from the stands filled with 34,328 fans.

Pratt arrived in the big leagues on June 16 and found early success, going 7-for-19 before becoming mired in a 1-for-25 slump that stretched into the first few days of July. He’s gotten hot at the plate ever since. Pratt is slashing .365/.426/.558 with two doubles, a triple, a pair of home runs and nine RBIs in his last 16 games.

The callup for Lara came on July 7 and he found himself starting in right field after a shoulder injury to Sal Frelick.

Lara, batting one spot in front of Pratt, drove in the first run of Saturday’s game with a sacrifice fly. He singled in the fourth, drove in a pair of runs with a bloop double in the sixth and drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and later scored on Christian Yelich’s sacrifice fly.

Lara recorded his first multihit game since joining the Brewers.

“It’s awesome. I love those guys,” Gasser -- who turned in a strong outing, giving up five hits and two runs in six innings -- said of his young teammates. “I was able to play with them early this year in Nashville, and to see them do it now up here, it's even better.”

Lara said his confidence at the plate is growing game by game.

“I know in any given situation, any given moment, I can come up with a hit,” Lara said through interpreter Daniel de Mondesert. “My mentality is always that there's no pitcher that's better than me.”

Lara said he enjoyed sharing the spotlight on this night with Pratt.

“I've gotten to play with Cooper for a couple of years now and he's a great player, one that I admire a lot and one that I respect,” Lara said. “I just really like the way that he plays the game. Both of us fortunately were able to sign extensions and I’m looking forward to playing with him for much more time to come. It's just a lot of fun being able to go out there and play the game together.”

Pratt and Lara weren’t the only ones making noise in the Brewers lineup. Jake Bauers, mired in a major slump since the All-Star break, reached base three times (a walk and two singles) and scored three runs.

“It's great to see Jake come back and have quality at-bats,” Murphy said.

The Brewers, who moved to 4-1 against the Rockies this season, are a Major League-best 52-26 since April 26. Milwaukee has won nine of its last 12 home games.