MILWAUKEE – Last year, the Brewers didn’t hit much against lefty starters.
This year, they have barely seen lefty starters.
On Wednesday, they not only saw one, but they made the most of it.
William Contreras and Gary Sánchez homered in Milwaukee’s five-run third inning, Sal Frelick made it back-to-back games with a homer in the fourth, Joey Ortiz sent one a Statcast-projected 425 feet in the fifth and Jackson Chourio went even deeper — 441 feet, per Statcast — for his first homer in more than three weeks in the sixth as the Brewers made it a day to forget for Pittsburgh left-hander Martín Pérez in a 10-2 win over the Pirates at American Family Field.
“Once you get those runs, that shutdown inning is crucial,” said the Brewers’ own lefty starter, rookie Robert Gasser. “If you’re able to get that, then your hitters are able to go in there again and be like, ‘OK, let’s do the same thing.’”
Again and again, that’s what those hitters did.
“Putting up that much on anyone, it’s fun,” Ortiz said.
The five-homer barrage matched a single-game franchise record against one pitcher – the Brewers also slugged five homers against a couple of Reds, Hunter Greene in 2022 and Chris Reitsma in 2002. Gasser, meanwhile, held the Pirates to one run in five innings and has a 0.82 ERA through his first two Major League starts.
