Overbay Traded to Toronto!
Rally, Rally, Giants Win
Brewers Come Up Short in 7-6 Loss
Dennis Jenders
Doug Davis is 0-0 in July and couldn't get his tenth win on the season as the Brewers came up short in a 7-6 loss to the Giants. The Brewers had a five run rally in the fourth but the Giants came back and matched the Brewers with five runs in the eighth inning to give the Giants a two run lead.
The fourth inning started with Rickie Weeks, back from a day of rest, flying out to center field. Lyle Overbay followed with a ground out and things were looking familiar before Carlos Lee unleashed on Rueter sending a ball just fair to deep left field. Cutting the deficit in half things looked promising as Geoff Jenkins reached with a shot off the wall in center. Marquis Grissom mistimed his jump as the ball bounced off the top of the wall and Jenkins reached third for his first triple of the season.
With Jenkins on Damian Miller came to the plate and kept the rally alive scoring Jenkins on a single and Bill Hall followed with a double to score Miller from first. J.J. Hardy was intentionally walked to get to Doug Davis, but his offense was with him as well this evening as he helped his cause reaching base with a walk. With the bases loaded Brady Clark singled a bloop to right field scoring two runs and giving the Brewers a 5-2 lead before Rickie Weeks came to the plate for his second appearance that inning. He struck out swinging as Rueter was replaced with Correia.
Rickie Weeks is clearly struggling right now. He has more strike outs than Brady Clark has all season. His patience at the plate that he demonstrated so well when he was called up has been lacking. While his strikeout ratio is climbing the club is willing to let him learn knowing that it is his first round through the league. As he gets to know the pitching out there that ratio should fall.
The Giants made a bunch of noise in the eighth inning when normally bulletproof Matt Wise was tagged for a two run shot. Wise walked Moises Alou and gave Pedro Feliz a fast-ball that he sent to the seats in deep left field bring the Giants within one. Wise struggled through the inning as he walked Deivi Cruz and Grissom broke his bat blooping one over the head of J.J. Hardy.
Julio Santana has brought the heat striking out 38 in 35 innings. He has also inherited 32 runners, allowing only 6 to score and continued his dominance as he struck out Mike Matheny but caught some bad luck as Ray Durham gave a first-pitch fastball a ride to deep center that was in and out of Brady Clark's glove. The catch would have ended the inning but Clark was playing a little shallow and shaded towards left, but found himself without enough speed to track it down completely and giving the Giants two more runs.
Santana went on to give up a single to Omar Vizquel scoring Grissom serving up another run for the Giants. The nightmare was finally ended when Dana Eveland came on and induced Michael Tucker into a fly ball that Hardy happily snagged to bring the team back to the dugout.
With the Giants leading 7-5 the Brewers found themselves with one last chance after Justin Lehr held the Giants in the ninth. Brady Clark, looking to overcome the dropped ball in the eighth, hit a ball that would have hit the foul pole for a solo home run giving the Brewers hope. But the next three batters, Rickie Weeks, Lyle Overbay, and Carlos Lee ended up going down in order and the Brewers walked off the field dejected losing by one.
The aces will face off tomorrow as Jason Schmidt will take on Ben Sheets. Both offenses will find themselves battling all day for a few runs. The bats that came to life in the fourth will need to be revived tomorrow if the Brewers want a chance at splitting the series.