MILWAUKEE — This weekend had “trap series” written all over it for the Brewers, coming off an emotional three-game sweep of the best-in-NL Dodgers with the last-place Nationals in town and the All-Star break just a few short days away.
“I was really fired up for him,” said right-hander Quinn Priester, who got the “other” win on Friday after following opener DL Hall with six solid innings. “It’s eclectic to watch. I’m excited for those guys to get to see it from the dugout like I’ve been able to. He’s going to represent us really well.”
Young arms like Misiorowski (23) and Priester (24) have helped push the Brewers to the top of the National League Wild Card standings on the strength of their pitching and defense, but a six-run inning never hurts. The Brewers scored all six before making their first out of the frame against Nationals starter Mitchell Parker, who’d retired six in a row before Milwaukee rookie Caleb Durbin led off the third inning with a double. It was the first of six consecutive Brewers hits, capped by run-scoring hits for Sal Frelick, Contreras, Jackson Chourio and Yelich all in succession, with Yelich’s homer leaving him one shy of his first 20-homer season since he hit 44 in 2019 and finished second in NL MVP Award balloting.
The Brewers later got a home run from newcomer Andrew Vaughn, making him the first player in franchise history to drive in a run in each of his first four games with the team. He’s already hit a pair of homers since replacing injured first baseman Rhys Hoskins.
“My biggest goal is getting up here and helping the guys win every night,” Vaughn said.
His homer was insurance for Hall and Priester, who combined to cover all nine innings just like they did on May 30 in Philadelphia. Hall gave up a third-inning run but contributed nine outs and Priester took it the rest of the way, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings, with a mid-outing pep talk from his catcher Contreras.
“Bill got into me a little bit, which was great,” Priester said. “He kind of pulled me aside and was like, ‘Hey, do you want it?’ I was like, ‘Dang, does it look like I don’t?’ It kind of lit a fire under me.”
Priester, acquired from the Red Sox in April when the Brewers were decimated by injuries and desperate for starting pitching, will reach the All-Star break 7-2 with a 3.55 ERA. He appreciated the nudge from his catcher.
“It’s all love,” Priester said. “He knows how good I am and how good I can be, and if I’m not performing up to that, that’s what a great team does. We hold each other accountable and he calls people out when he needs to. That’s part of the reason we’ve been playing good. His leadership back there is really important.”
It added up to a satisfying effort for manager Pat Murphy, who reminded his players going into the series that there was still work to do before the break.
“When they have a chance to think about four days [off] and going home, it’s just easy to look ahead and not take care of today,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to be a little uncommon when it comes to how we think about games, because they all matter.”