Covering the bases 8/5/2025: Brewers 7, Atlanta 2
The Milwaukee Brewers won their fifth game in a row Tuesday, beating Atlanta 7-2. Continuing their combination of a relentless offense and solid pitching, the Brewers scored those seven runs on a modest eight hits, but they also drew four walks. While possessing the best record in MLB at 69-44, the Brewers now lead the NL Central by four games following the second-place Chicago Cubs losing to the Cincinnati Reds 5-1. In their last 60 games, the Brewers are 44-16, the best record in club history in that stretch of games. They are also 25 games above .500.
FIRST BASE: Capitalizing on mistakes
Two situations showed why the Brewers continue to rack up the wins. First, Christian Yelich, batting with the bases loaded and two outs, hit a third-inning grounder to second baseman Ozzie Albies, who had to make a do-or-die play. Albies tried to field and flip the ball to first base all in one motion, which didn't work out. Yelich was safe and a run scored, giving the Brewers a 1-0 lead. A wild pitch scored the second run, then Andrew Vaughn drove in a pair with a single. The second situation came in the sixth inning. Isaac Collins hit a liner that left fielder Jurickson Profar misplayed into a triple. On the next pitch, Collins scored on Brice Turang's opposite-field single to make it 5-1.
SECOND BASE: Peralta's patience
All Freddy Peralta does is continue to win, even if it isn't pretty. Peralta improved to 13-4 by allowing one run on four hits and three walks, while striking out seven. Peralta is tied with Boston Red Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet for the MLB lead in wins after Crochet also picked up a win Tuesday. Peralta has struggled with walks in his last four games, issuing 12 free passes and not making it past the fifth inning in any of those starts.
THIRD BASE: Collins' contributions
He doesn't always grab headlines, but Collins just contributes in whatever way the Brewers need him to. Collins shifted over from left field to right field Tuesday, then went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. In addition to scorching the ball that Profar misplayed, Collins singled home a pair of runs in the seventh inning to boost the Brewers' advantage to 7-1.
HOME PLATE: Vaughn's battle
I mentioned Vaughn's two-run single in the First Base section. What wasn't mentioned was that Vaughn battled through a 12-pitch at-bat – which included fouling off seven pitches – to come through with a huge hit. That big single extended Vaughn's hitting streak to 11 games, tying his career best. During that stretch, Vaughn is hitting .429 with four homers and 14 RBIs with a 1.230 OPS.
EXTRA BASES: Quintana face Strider
⚾ Left-hander Jose Quintana (8-4, 3.50 ERA) takes the mound for the Brewers against Atlanta right-hander Spencer Strider (5-8, 3.71 ERA) in the series finale at 4:15 p.m. PT as the Brewers go for the three-game sweep. Quintana will look to build off a solid start his last time out, when he allowed two runs in five innings Friday against the Washington Nationals.
⚾ Rookie third baseman Chad Durbin hit leadoff for the first time with the Brewers. Durbin had never hit above the No. 5 spot before Tuesday. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.
⚾ Turang's sixth-inning steal was his 20th of the season, giving him at least 20 steals in each of his three MLB seasons. He stole 26 as a rookie in 2023, then 50 last year.
