Five-run fifth inning carries Crew to 6-2 victory over Angels

Shane Drohan turned in six strong innings in a bounce-back outing, while the Brewers broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning fueled by home runs from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers. After dropping two of three to the Giants to open their California road trip, Milwaukee got back on track tonight with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

After neither team managed to score in the first, Bauers and Garrett Mitchell led off the top of the second with back-to-back singles off Angels starter Ryan Johnson. Up next was Cooper Pratt, who slapped a line drive into left field. With Bauers rounding third, Angels left fielder Jose Siri charged the ball in an attempt to gun him down at the plate but couldn’t come up with it cleanly. By the time the dust settled, Pratt had reached second, Mitchell advanced to third, and Bauers had scored the Brewers’ first run of the game.

Neither team scored again until the fifth, when Johnson walked Pratt to open the frame. Turang then hit a towering fly ball that had just enough carry to clear the center-field fence.

Johnson continued to unravel, allowing Jackson Chourio to single before walking William Contreras to put another rally in motion. He managed just one more out—a sharp lineout off the bat of Christian Yelich—before being pulled in favor of Jose Fermín, whose second pitch to Bauers, a slider low and inside, hung just long enough. Bauers crushed it 424 feet into the seats to make it 6-0, a lead that proved to be more than enough with Drohan on the mound.

Drohan was perfect the first time through the order. In the fourth, he allowed back-to-back singles to Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel before bouncing back to get Jorge Soler to ground into an inning-ending double play. He surrendered a two-run homer to Denzer Guzman in the fifth, bringing the Angels within four, but retired the side in order in the sixth to finish his night. After allowing five earned runs against Colorado in his previous outing, Drohan responded with one of his better starts of the season, earning his sixth win. He’s now gone at least 5 2/3 innings in all six of his starts during the month of July.

With Drohan done after six innings, Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill came in and combined for three no-hit innings. If not for a hit batter by Anderson, they would have been three perfect innings.

One more note for those who missed the game: Mitchell’s stat line doesn’t quite do his night justice. He finished 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, but he also hit three balls at 109 mph or harder — a 109.2 mph double in the fifth, a 111.3 mph single in the second, and a 109.9 mph lineout that traveled 395 feet in the fourth. For Brewers fans who have watched Mitchell battle injuries year after year, it’s been encouraging to see him not only healthy but consistently squaring the ball up.

Milwaukee will look to clinch the series tomorrow night before wrapping up its road trip on Sunday. Robert Gasser is scheduled to start for the Brewers opposite Angels right-hander José Soriano. First pitch is set for 8:38 p.m.