MIAMI -- Coleman Crow says he is not big on drinking a lot of caffeine before a start, but he was pretty amped up on Friday night. For good reason.
With his wife and family coming in from his hometown in Georgia, Crow was strong in his debut, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing two runs in the Brewers’ 7-5, 10-inning win over the Marlins at loanDepot park.
Crow left the game with a 4-1 lead after giving up four hits to the Marlins.
After the game, the 25-year-old right-hander went and visited with his family and friends who made the trip south and enjoyed his special moment on the field.
Crow did not factor into the decision, but that was not on his mind late Friday night.
“This is definitely what you dream about. It’s what I dreamed about growing up,’’ Crow said. “It was everything that I imagined. So much fun tonight.’’
Crow, Milwaukee’s No. 27 prospect, was officially recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Friday and had an interesting start to the game.
On the first batter he faced, Crow had to cover first base for the out and appeared to tweak something. After being checked out, he remained in the game.
He said he caught his left foot on the base.
But he put the Marlins down in order in the first (and fifth) and looked right at home.
“It was pretty electric,’’ Crow said. “Just settling in after that first inning, I was pretty nervous. I don’t do a lot of caffeine intake, but the first inning, I was super jittery. I was just trying to fill the zone. After that first, I felt like in the second, I went on cruise control. I felt I was filling the zone making pitches, and felt really good.’’
Crow is the ninth different starter that Milwaukee has had in its first 20 games as he replaced lefty Kyle Harrison in the rotation. Harrison was pushed back to next week with a sore left wrist.
On Friday, Crow gave the Brewers a chance.
“It was great. I was so excited for him, his family,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He had a lot of poise to come in and pitch and pitch so well. [Miami] is a good ballclub. … I thought Coleman went out and was just tremendous in his first outing. He didn’t miss too many spots.’’
Said Miami manager Clayton McCullough: “[Crow] seemed to have some poise and handle himself well. You get a little cushion there after the third to work with, I'm sure it helps some as you keep going. He used the big curveball with some success. But I think we hung in there pretty well. We were able to scratch back and get it close, but he did a good job for tonight.”
The Brewers had leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the game, but the Marlins did scratch back late. The hosts tied the score at 4 with one out in the eighth on a double off the wall in left from Miami catcher Agustín Ramírez that scored Xavier Edwards from first.
In the 10th inning, Milwaukee loaded the bases with no outs.
Luis Rengifo, who doubled in a run to make it 4-1 in the sixth, sent a sharp grounder to Edwards, the second baseman who was shading toward first.
Edwards came up throwing, but the ball sailed wide of Ramírez at home allowing Brice Turang to score and give the Brewers a 5-4 lead.
Garrett Mitchell drove in two more runs with a double to left for a 7-4 lead.
Miami scored once in the bottom of the 10th when Jakob Marsee scored from third on a wild pitch, but Trevor Megill struck out Otto Lopez -- who came up a double shy of hitting for the cycle -- to get his fourth save of the season.
Although Murphy was really happy with how Crow pitched, he was not too happy with his team going 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
The Brewers, who have won three straight after taking the final two at home against the Blue Jays, stranded 10 runners. Jake Bauers had three hits in the win; Rengifo and Mitchell each had two.
The three-game series continues Saturday at 3:10 p.m. CT.
“We left a small village on base tonight, didn’t we?” Murphy said.