MILWAUKEE — Logan Henderson gave up one hit over seven innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Texas Rangers 6-1 on Friday night at American Family Field. Texas finished with 2 hits.
Henderson struck out 7 and walked nobody in the win, allowing 1 earned run. He has now given up three runs or fewer in each of the first 19 starts of his career, 14 of them this season. Seven innings matched the longest outing he has thrown, set Aug. 16 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Texas came into the night knowing Henderson would be a tough matchup.
“Probably a combination,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “Henderson was really good. The changeup gave our lefties some trouble and the fastball at the top. And we just couldn’t get a barrel really on the ball unless it was the home run provided by Jansen. Other than that, not too much traffic tonight.”
“Another tough offensive performance against a really good pitcher tonight,” Schumaker continued. “So we had a tough challenge. We knew that coming in. And unfortunately, we just couldn’t get anything going.”
Danny Jansen accounted for the Rangers’ run with a solo home run in the third that made it 2-1. Justin Foscue had the other hit. As a team Texas went 2-for-29 and was 0-for-1 with a runner in scoring position.
Cody Bradford’s Sixth Inning Ended On David Hamilton’s Single
Cody Bradford took the loss and fell to 0-3. He went 5 2/3 innings on 100 pitches, giving up 9 hits and 3 earned runs with 2 walks and no strikeouts.
Milwaukee scored twice in the first. Brice Turang led off with a bunt single and took second on a throwing error, moved up on Jackson Chourio‘s fly out, and scored on William Contreras‘ groundout. Christian Yelich doubled home the second run.
The sixth opened with a broken-bat single by Yelich and a walk to Sal Frelick, with a double play ball in between that Texas did not turn. David Hamilton followed with the run-scoring single that ended Bradford’s night.
Hamilton was 0 for 2 against Bradford before that at-bat, Schumaker said.
“I thought Cody was good,” Schumaker explained. “He was on the attack, an error in the first inning. But other than that, he kept them off bases. And into the sixth inning, I felt, beginning of the inning, Yelich kind of broken bat, single to third, a double play ball that wasn’t kind of turned, and then a walk to Frelick, but I thought it was his inning.”
“A ball didn’t get out of the infield, and with Hamilton at the plate, he was 0 for 2 against Cody already, and Andrew Vaughn was potentially going to hit there with 1.000 OPS against lefties, so that was kind of the decision,” Schumaker added. “Unfortunately, Hamilton got the hit and had to make the move. But I thought Cody was really good and gave us a chance to win. Just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
Milwaukee added a run in the seventh. Jake Bauers walked, stole second, and scored on Contreras’ single. In the eighth, Frelick and Hamilton opened with consecutive bunt singles, Chourio drove in a run and Contreras added a sacrifice fly.
Bauers had missed three straight games with shin splints. He returned to go 2 for 2 with three walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base, reaching base five times.
Milwaukee Brewers Bunted And Ran
Milwaukee drew its walks and drove the runners in when it needed to.
“We knew what they were going to do, and they did it,” Schumaker said. “They executed. And I think that’s the main thing is they executed exactly what their game plan is, and they’ve been doing it all year, and that’s why their record is what it is.”
“They run prevent, really good defense behind the pitcher, really fast runners that are, if they execute the bunt, it’s tough to get them out,” Schumaker detailed. “They walk, and then they drove them in when they needed to. So it was a good brand of baseball and the reason why they’ve won so many games.”
DL Hall struck out 3 in a hitless eighth for Milwaukee. Aaron Ashby worked the ninth, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk with 2 strikeouts. Chase Silseth, Tyler Alexander, and Adam Macko followed Bradford for Texas.
The Brewers are 84-51, the best record in the majors, and moved a season-high eight games clear of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. Milwaukee entered the series third in MLB with 133 stolen bases.
Texas fell to 66-69 and sits two games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West. The Rangers have lost 13 of their last 16 road games and dropped two of three to the Chicago White Sox earlier in the week.
Cal Quantrill (6-4, 2.90 ERA) starts Saturday against Brewers left-hander Shane Drohan (6-5, 3.84). First pitch is 6:15 p.m. CT.
