The Milwaukee Brewers relied on the long ball to get back on the winning track as Willy Adames, Rowdy Tellez and William Contreras each belted home runs on Sunday to power the Brewers to a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Contreras’ two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning put the Brewers on top to stay.
Freddy Peralta (5-3) gave the Brewers six quality innings, allowing a three-run homer to Josh Lowe among five hits and walking three with four strikeouts. Devin Williams collected his seventh save, working 1 1/3 innings.
The Brewers salvaged the series finale after dropping the first two games in the series. Milwaukee returns home on Monday to face the Houston Astros after a 2-4 road trip.
Lowe, who had three hits, drove in all four Tampa Bay runs.
The Rays suffered a rare home loss (21-4), and are 5-7 since a blistering 29-7 start.
With the Rays down a couple of starting pitchers due to injuries, Jalen Beeks was used as the opener, and gave up a run in two innings.
After retiring the side in order in the first inning, Beeks came out for the second. But Adames led off in the second inning with an opposite-field home run.
Adames, formerly with the Rays, had a light-hearted moment after crossing home plate. The Brewers shortstop smiled and looked in the direction of Tampa Bay left fielder Randy Arozarena and mimicked his pose of arms folded across his chest. Arozarena smiled in return.
Milwaukee padded its lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning off reliever Cooper Criswell (0-1). Darin Ruf doubled to lead off the inning, and Tellez followed with a two-run homer to center.
The Brewers’ three-run advantage didn’t last long. In the fourth, back-to-back walks by Peralta proved costly. After Arozarena and Harold Ramirez were issued free passes, Lowe laced a three-run homer to right, his 11th.
Milwaukee jumped back on top with three runs in the fifth inning. Owen Miller singled and Contreras unloaded on a two-run homer to center. Christian Yelich smacked a ground-rule double and later scored on Brian Anderson’s RBI single.
–Field Level Media
