Christian Yelich chopped a tiebreaking two-run single in a six-run eighth inning, and the host Milwaukee Brewers rallied to an 8-2 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon.
Yelich and Garrett Mitchell (double, stolen base) each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run. Brice Turang clubbed a two-run home run as the Brewers won for the fifth time in six games to open the season.
In six innings, Jacob Misiorowski yielded two runs on four hits to go with seven strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter.
Aaron Ashby (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth to earn the win.
The Rays’ Yandy Diaz swatted a two-run homer, and Chandler Simpson went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Starter Drew Rasmussen tossed five innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits. He fanned eight, all swinging, and walked one.
The Rays committed three errors and have a major league-high nine thus far.
After allowing two runs in the third, Rasmussen posted a career-high six consecutive strikeouts and had the Brewers flailing.
The 6-foot-7 Misiorowski set the tone with nine fastballs reaching at least 100 mph in the first. He managed to whiff four of the first five hitters before Nick Fortes tipped a triple-digit fastball that struck home plate umpire CB Bucknor flush in the mask, knocking the official out of the game.
The right-hander seemed out of sorts after a nearly 15-minute delay to put first base umpire Chad Fairchild behind the plate. Fortes singled to right, and Misiorowski walked Simpson.
The Rays got to him in the third after the pitcher plunked Richie Palacios. Diaz followed with an opposite-field homer to right for a 2-0 lead, but Turang answered by belting his first homer of the season to knot it 2-all with a 392-footer to center in the bottom half.
In the eighth inning against reliever Griffin Jax (0-2), the Brewers loaded the bases on a fielding error by Carson Williams, a third error by Junior Caminero — this time at first base on a missed catch — and William Contreras’ single to right. Yelich then grounded a two-run single to right through a drawn-in infield.
Mitchell added a two-run double, and Blake Perkins and David Hamilton drove in runs.
