SEATTLE – The injuries are beginning to pile up for the Milwaukee Brewers.
For the second consecutive night, they had another key player leave the game due to injury – this time centerfielder Garrett Mitchell, who departed in the 10th inning and put a bit of a damper on an otherwise plucky 11-inning, 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
On Monday night, Corbin Burnes had to leave in the sixth inning of his start, although fortunately his injury doesn’t appear to be serious.
Now, the Brewers will have to wait and see what Mitchell’s status will be moving ahead.
“It’s a right shoulder issue,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Brewers’ sixth victory in nine games on their current 10-game road trip that wraps up Wednesday afternoon.
“He’ll fly back with us tomorrow and then we’ll have to get him checked out by the doctors.”
BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Mariners 5 (11 innings)
Mitchell opened the 10th as the “ghost runner” and the Brewers benefited immediately from his speed on the basepaths when he successfully took third on a grounder to the right side by Victor Caratini off former Milwaukee reliever Trevor Gott.
Brice Turang followed by hitting into a double play, but Mitchell was able to scamper home with the go-ahead run.
Bryse Wilson entered for the 10th and a wild pitch came back to haunt him quickly as Kolten Wong sprinted home with two outs to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly to center by Ty France.
Mitchell had to be removed from the game at that point, with his throw home trying for Wong the precipitating factor.
“He felt the subluxing on the throw,” Counsell said. “That’s all we know right now.”
Mitchell was shaken up on his slide into third in the top of the 10th and was given a few moments to collect himself, but he was deemed fine to remain in the game.
“He passed the tests, so we sent him back out there,” Counsell said. “But in hindsight, the one play (a long, hard throw was ill-timed).”
Eugenio Suárez and Cal Raleigh singled but Wilson got Teoscar Hernández looking at a called third.
Willy Adames drove in Joey Wiemer with the go-ahead run in the 11th with another ex-Brewer, Justin Topa, on the mound.
Seattle went on to load the bases with two outs in the 11th with Mariners star Julio Rodríguez coming to the plate. But Wilson ultimately got him to bounce into a forceout at second and give Milwaukee its sixth victory on the road trip.
“I have one thought on my mind,” Wilson said of the final at-bat. “I just really, really jammed him with a sinker his last at-bat, so I’m going to eventually go back to that. And that’s what I did.”
Wilson wasn’t alone in his heroics as Hoby Milner, Joel Payamps, Matt Bush and Devin Williams teamed with him to provide six scoreless innings behind starter Colin Rea.
Bush was resurgent after allowing a home run the previous night, striking out the side, while Williams worked around a two-out walk in the ninth by getting ex-teammate Wong looking at a called third strike.
How good has Milwaukee’s pitching been so far?
It enters Wednesday with the third-best ERA in the major leagues and best in the National League at 2.96 while the bullpen is tops in the majors with a 2.05 ERA.
“They’ve been great and if there’s a better word than that for tonight, they were,” Counsell said of his relief corps. “Just a heck of a job. A whole bunch of guys delivering big outs in tough innings and putting up zeroes.
“They’ve been wonderful, and they were again tonight.”
Considering how big a question mark the unit was coming into the season considering all the turnover, it would be tough to overstate just how important the bullpen has been in Milwaukee’s 13-5 start.
“Collectively, they’ve helped each other,” Counsell said. “The starters have done a nice job getting deep in games because the offense has supported them and the defense has supported them. They’ve pitched very well. And in some ways it’s not surprising because I think we’ve been able to put them in the right spots.”
Wilson, one of those new faces, now has his first victory of the season to go along with a pair of three-inning saves.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “Obviously, winning helps that. The team camaraderie and just how much fun we have, win or lose, I think is really helping on the field.”
Added Bush: “I think we’re kind of opening our own eyes in this clubhouse.”
Christian Yelich had a three-hit night, including a leadoff home run, and Adames also went deep and drove in three.
Continuing a trip-long trend, Milwaukee took a 1-0 lead six pitches into the game when Yelich socked an opposite-field homer to left off Logan Gilbert.
The lead stretched out to 3-0 in the third after Owen Miller hustled his way to a one-out double and Yelich singled him in, and Adames followed with a two-out double that plated Yelich.
Seattle got to Rea – making his second start of the season and on the road trip – in the third after loading the bases on a pair of one out singles and Suárez was hit by a pitch.
Raleigh doubled in two, a sacrifice fly tied it and a bloop single that dropped just in front of Yelich in left made it 4-3 as the Mariners went ahead for the first time in the series.
Rea settled back in after Seattle took the lead, retiring seven straight.
Then, with one out in the sixth, Adames went with a 94.3-mph fastball up and out and drove it over the fence in right to tie it at 4-4.
Rea departed at that point in favor of Milner having allowed five hits, four runs and two walks with two strikeouts over 73 pitches.
“He threw the ball well and settled down after the (third) and gave us a couple more innings and did a nice job,” Counsell said.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Garrett Mitchell leaves with injury during Brewers’ win over Mariners
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