It was a rollercoaster of emotions on Friday night for the Milwaukee Brewers. But they ended the game on a high note as rookie outfielder Garrett Mitchell's first career walk-off hit gave the Crew a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees.
Things did not start out so hot for Milwaukee as Adrian Houser struggled through three innings, allowing five runs as the Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 lead. But then the Brewers started battling back.
Willy Adames got the Crew on the board with a three run homer in the bottom of the 2nd, his 29th of the season - tying Robin Yount for most HRs by a shortstop in a season in franchise history. Adames again got the Brewers closer with a ground rule double in the 4th inning to make it a 5-4 ballgame. That was followed by a Rowdy Tellez sac fly and Milwaukee had tied it up at 5.
The Brewers bullpen meanwhile, was doing its job. Peter Strzelecki, Justin Topa, Hoby Milner, Brad Boxberger and Devin Williams shut the Yankees out through their five innings of combined work, allowing just two total hits.
That set up Willy Adames again in the 8th inning. With runners on the corners, Adames hits a grounder to short but Isaiah Kiner-Falefa couldn't handle it cleanly, allowing Keston Hiura to score and give the Crew a 6-5 lead. Taylor Rogers came in to close it out in the 9th but immediately allowed a homer to Josh Donaldson to tie the game back up and blow the save.
Heading to the bottom of the 9th, Hunter Renfroe got it started with a first pitch double. Kolten Wong got Renfroe over to third, then McCutchen drew a walk, Jace Peterson struck out, and Victor Caratini drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for the rookie Garrett Mitchell.
Mitchell laced a line drive single up the middle to bring home Renfroe and give the Brewers a 7-6 victory over the Yankees. It was Mitchell's first career walk off hit and it provided a huge boost to a Brewers team in desperate need of it. Taylor Rogers ended up getting the win and Clay Holmes took the loss.
Brandon Woodruff (10-4, 3.39 ERA) is on the mound for Milwaukee on Saturday, facing off against Jameson Taillon (13-4, 3.94 ERA) of the Yankees.