Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras called it one of the best at-bats of his career.
Facing the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander with two on and two out and the score 1-1 in the fifth inning Saturday, Contreras fouled off seven pitches in a row, including four consecutive four-seam fastballs, before drilling a 95.4 mph fastball 428 feet for a home run to left-center field.
That three-run homer of the 13th pitch of the at-bat was enough to send Milwaukee to a 4-2 victory over the Astros and square this three-game interleague series.
The teams will meet again Sunday afternoon in Houston. The Astros won the opener 5-4 on Friday but had their six-game winning streak snapped on Saturday.
Contreras joked after Saturday’s game that he’d already viewed the plate appearance on video two dozen times. The 26-year-old’s pride was valid.
“That’s one of the best (at-bats) I’ve seen in my career, and my career is a hell of a lot longer than his,” said the Brewers 65-year-old manager, Pat Murphy. “This made a statement. That just made a statement of who the guy is and kind of represents our team. That at-bat, that’s mental toughness.”
It followed a 10-pitch at-bat by Blake Perkins, who worked Verlander for a sacrifice fly, earlier in the fifth.
“Credit to our players and the at-bats they had in that inning.”
In the series finale, right-hander Colin Rea (3-1, 3.45 ERA) will start for Milwaukee. He allowed three runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts over six innings in the Brewers’ 8-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, dropping Milwaukee to 6-2 in his starts. It marked the fourth time this season that Rea has worked at least six innings.
Rea has faced the Astros once, throwing 5 1/3 innings while allowing four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in a 6-0 home victory on May 23, 2023.
Rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (1-4, 7.52 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Astros on Sunday. He earned his first career victory Monday against the Oakland Athletics, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings in a 9-2 win. It marked the third start that Arrighetti allowed two runs or less and his third consecutive start with at least five innings pitched.
Arrighetti will make his first career appearance against the Brewers.
Verlander previously documented how he is undergoing a change in his pitching mechanics and, with that, the potential for inconsistent results from start to start. After tossing seven shutout innings and getting the win last Sunday against the Tigers, Verlander blanked the Brewers for four innings Saturday before things went sideways in the fifth.
Contreras’ home run was the big blow, but Verlander noted his walks to Sal Frelick and Jackson Chourio as the turning point of his outing. Both were a byproduct of Verlander losing his mechanics, leading to the 13-pitch confrontation with Contreras and the subsequent three-run shot.
“That’s the best my stuff has been all year,” Verlander said. “I think you need to have a realistic view of things when things are going well and when things aren’t going well like (Saturday), and I think if I continue to throw the ball the way I have my last couple starts, it’ll be good long term. You can’t sit here and judge on one or two games. You can be good at this level and not pitch well.
“I’m going to stay positive. I think the mechanics are trending in the right direction. I just need to continue to do it and get more comfortable with it and then hopefully as you get comfortable with that, you don’t lose your mechanics for a couple of batters and have to find it again. You maintain it and go on a hell of a run.”
–Field Level Media
