MILWAUKEE — Jace Peterson tied the score with a three-run triple in the ninth inning and slumping Andrew McCutchen followed with a game-ending single as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied past the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Thursday night.
Jorge Alfaro’s two-run homer in the sixth off Brent Suter gave the Padres a 3-1 lead. Sergio Alcántara made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Taylor Rogers (0-3) took over in the ninth and, after allowing Keston Hiura's leadoff single, he hit two straight batters with pitches to load the bases for Peterson, who sent a drive off the center-field wall.
Padres manager Bob Melvin called on Nabil Crismatt to face McCutchen, who snapped an 0-for-32 skid with a base hit up the middle to win it.
“He’s had great at-bats the whole road trip. Then again today, he had some really good at-bats without getting a hit but he came up big in that situation and got it done,” Peterson said. “That’s what he does. We don’t expect anything less from him.”
Peter Strzelecki (1-0) worked two innings of relief, earning the win in his major league debut. He allowed one run and two hits with two walks, striking out three.
“He did a really nice job,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He gets through two innings and gave us a shot. It’s a day when we kind of put our bullpen back in order and the two innings from Pete were a big reason for that.”
The late four-run comeback wiped out an early pitchers’ duel. San Diego starter Sean Manaea struck out eight over six innings, while Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser had five strikeouts and also allowed just one run over five innings.
Eric Hosmer hit an RBI double in the fifth for the Padres. McCutchen tied it 1-all in the bottom half with a run-scoring groundout.
“Typically, we score four runs, we win a game," Melvin said. "The ninth inning just got away from us.”
CANO OUT, MAZARA IN
Before the game, San Diego called up Nomar Mazara from Triple-A El Paso, where the former Rangers outfielder was batting .367 with seven homers, 27 RBIs and a 1.095 OPS.
The Padres cleared a spot for him by cutting Robinson Canó, who declined an assignment to the minors and elected free agency.
San Diego had hoped the 39-year-old Canó would provide some much-needed offense against right-handed pitching, but he batted .091 (3 for 33) without an extra-base hit in 12 games. He struck out 10 times and had one RBI for the Padres after getting released by the New York Mets last month.
“He had a pretty good at-bat yesterday and it looked like he might have a chance (to turn things around),” Melvin said. “But this is a business at times. We're a little down offensively and we're trying to create a little more production in our lineup.”
IS THIS A JOKE?
The Brewers placed catcher Omar Narvaez on the COVID-19 injured list just before the game. Catcher Alex Hall was selected from Class A Wisconsin to replace Narvaez on the active roster.
Hall, 22, is far from being one of Milwaukee's top catching prospects but he was physically the closest catcher to Milwaukee, which is how he got his first big league call-up.
The promotion was so unlikely that at first, Hall thought he was the victim of a prank.
“I thought everyone was just messing with me,” he said. “(Brewers minor league director) Tom Flanagan tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Can we have a word?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, this can’t be good.’ Then we went in the office and (manager) Joe Ayrault was on FaceTime and he just said that I’d evaded COVID for this long and one of ours has gone down and I have to go fill in.”
During his two-hour drive to Milwaukee, Hall called home to Australia to break the news to his family, which at first also thought he was having a little fun at their expense.
Hall arrived at American Family Field just ahead of the game and spent the evening in the dugout, soaking up the experience — and the Brewers' victory — but will head back to Appleton on Friday.
“Hopefully, he enjoyed the day,” Counsell said. “A fun win for him. He’s got a story to tell.”
ROUGH STRETCH FOR ROGERS
Rogers converted 16 of his first 17 save opportunities this season but is 0-3 with two blown saves over his last three outings, with seven earned runs allowed during that stretch.
“This was probably the worst outing of my career,” he said. “Nothing was working. The team was in a position to win and I screwed up.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: OF Wil Myers was not in the lineup for a third straight game but was available off the bench, Melvin said. Myers has been dealing with a sore right knee all season and received an injection Tuesday to help treat the injury.
Brewers: After a frustrating week on the injury front, Milwaukee got some promising news as SS Willy Adames (ankle) resumed his minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville, OF Hunter Renfroe (hamstring) went through an on-field workout and right-hander Brandon Woodruff (ankle) played catch without any issues.
UP NEXT
Brewers RHP Corbin Burnes (3-2, 1.95 ERA) faces the Padres for the second time this season when the series continues Friday night. Burnes allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings last time out in St. Louis and held San Diego to a run over six innings on May 24.
The Padres turn to RHP Joe Musgrove, who has allowed one run with 11 strikeouts in 13 innings over his last two outings.
