Bauers' 413-Foot Blast Breaks It Open as Brewers Down Braves 4-1

Jake Bauers hit a 413-foot home run to center in the third inning that swung Milwaukee's win probability from 64% to 82%, and the Brewers never looked back. Milwaukee took the final 4-1, handing Atlanta a loss despite a multi-hit effort from three different Braves.

Atlanta drew first blood in the opening inning when Michael Harris II doubled to left, scoring a runner and pushing another to third to make it 1-0. That lead held through two innings, and for a moment it looked like Martin Perez might have enough to work with. He didn't. Milwaukee answered in the third, and answered emphatically. William Contreras singled to left to tie it at one, and then Bauers stepped in and ended the debate — a 413-foot shot to center that scored Contreras and put the Brewers up 3-1. The game, for all practical purposes, was over right there.

Milwaukee added one more in the fourth on a Pratt sacrifice fly to left that scored Ortiz and pushed the lead to 4-1, which is where it stayed. The story of the night was Logan Henderson, who gave the Brewers exactly what they needed: 6.0 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He kept Atlanta's lineup — which sent Albies, Dubon, and Harris II each to the plate four times — from doing any real damage after that first-inning run. On the Atlanta side, Perez lasted only 4.0 innings, allowing 4 hits and 1 earned run while issuing 3 walks. Brent Suter cleaned up admirably with 3.0 scoreless innings, and Victor Mederos tacked on a clean final frame, but the damage was already done.

What makes this loss sting for Atlanta, at least on the surface, is that the hits were there. Harris II, Albies, and Dubon each went 2-for-4, and Harris drove in the only Braves run. But three multi-hit performances and one run on the board tells you everything about how the night went — Milwaukee's pitching kept the big inning from materializing every time Atlanta threatened. Bauers finishing 1-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBI while Contreras went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored looks like the kind of complementary offensive performance that wins games in August. Milwaukee controlled this one from the third inning on, and it wasn't particularly close.