Starting pitcher Freddy Peralta gave the host Milwaukee Brewers a terrific performance as they avoided a sweep by holding off the Atlanta Braves 10-9 on Sunday afternoon.
Milwaukee, which had lost its previous three games, had an 8-0 lead before lifting Peralta for the seventh. Atlanta put up seven in the inning but fell short of completing the rally.
Peralta (4-1) did not allow a hit through the first 4 1/3 innings and ended up allowing two in his six innings of work, with eight strikeouts.
In his last outing against the Cardinals, Peralta gave up one hit with eight strikeouts but got a no-decision as Milwaukee failed to score for him and ended up losing 6-1 in extra innings. Peralta definitely received some run support Sunday — and it almost was not enough.
Milwaukee got the scoring going in the third when Daniel Vogelbach drove in Avisail Garcia and Lorenzo Cain with a two-out double to deep right.
Milwaukee made it 3-0 in the fourth on a double from Omar Narvaez. In the fifth, Garcia gave Milwaukee a 5-0 advantage with a homer to center that just barely got over the outstretched glove of Ender Inciarte.
The Brewers padded their lead by scoring three in the sixth off reliever Jesse Biddle, who at one point threw 13 consecutive balls, including two wild pitches which plated two runs.
Atlanta did not get its first hit off Peralta until Austin Riley singled to left with one out in the top of the fifth.
But once Peralta was out of the game, Atlanta’s bats woke up in the seventh and two infield errors by the Brewers helped keep the inning going.
The Braves cut their deficit to six on a two-run single by Inciarte before a Milwaukee fielding error allowed the third run to come across.
With the bases loaded, Freddie Freeman homered to center off Brent Suter to make it a one-run game.
Milwaukee gave itself a little breathing room in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single from Lorenzo Cain, which made it 10-7.
The Braves battled back and were within a run with two outs in the ninth. Josh Hader picked up his ninth save by striking out William Contreras to end the threat.
–Field Level Media