Andrew McCutchen and Luis Urias each hit two-run home runs in the sixth inning and Brandon Woodruff struck out 10 as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in the opener of a two-game interleague series at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Kolten Wong had a hit and scored two runs in his return from the injured list as Milwaukee won for the fourth time in the past five games and the eighth time in 11. Willy Adames also had a hit in his return to Tampa Bay after he was traded to the Brewers last season.
Randy Arozarena had an RBI single and Wander Franco added a run-scoring fly ball for the Rays, who entered their first series against the Brewers since 2017 after winning all three games of a home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Rays broke through in the fourth inning, getting Arozarena’s RBI hit with two outs to score Yandy Diaz, who had led off the inning with a double.
The Brewers had just two hits off Rays starter Shane Baz before their offense got going in the sixth. Christian Yelich led off with a single.
With two outs, Baz was replaced by Matt Wisler (2-2). McCutchen hit Wisler’s second pitch over the wall in left for a 2-1 lead, Wong followed with a double and Urias hit his two-run shot, also to left.
Urias pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 5-1 in the eighth inning, on a double. Franco got the run back for Tampa Bay with a sacrifice fly in the same inning. Harold Ramirez added an RBI groundout to get the Rays within two runs.
Woodruff (6-3), in his first start since spending a month on the IL with an ankle injury, gave up one run on two hits over five innings while recording his 13th career game with double-digit strikeouts.
Baz gave up one run on three hits, with two walks and six strikeouts, over 5 2/3 innings.
Brewers closer Josh Hader struck out all three batters in the ninth to earn his 23rd save.
–Field Level Media