Brewers 15, D'backs 8: Milwaukee's magic number is down to 3 after a wild slugfest

PHOENIX – The Milwaukee Brewers are good students, turns out.

On a day that began with a fiery speech delivered by former MVP Dustin Pedroia in a team meeting, the Brewers went out hours later and played with tenacity and relentlessness in the batter's box, turning the desert into an oasis with a downpour of offense Saturday night at Chase Field.

Willy Adames hit a grand slam as part of a two-home run game to break one of his own franchise records, Garrett Mitchell reached base five times and the Brewers slugged their way to a 15-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that moved their magic number to clinch the National League Central Division to three.

A champagne celebration could come as soon as Monday night at American Family Field.

"We poured it on tonight and kept pouring on, kept pouring on," Brewers pitcher Tobias Myers said. "Just never give up."

Milwaukee had scored 24 runs combined over its previous nine games coming into the day. The offense halved that number in the first four innings Saturday. Each of Milwaukee’s first six batters in the lineup reached base at least twice and four of the top five were on base safely at least three times.

MORE: Box score | Brewers schedule | MLB standings

The back-breaker was a seven-run second inning in which all the damage came with two outs and was capped by Adames delivering the Brewers’ ninth grand slam of the season. The Brewers shortstop added a solo shot in a four-run fourth inning to extend his National League RBI lead to 107 and break his own franchise record for homers in a season by a shortstop with 32.

"Unbelievable. It’s been amazing," Adames said. "It’s been such a special year for me and for the team. I think we have a special group of guys here. It’s been such an amazing ride this year."

The breakout came on the heels of an impassioned speech from Pedroia, whose entire big-league career was spent in Boston but has emotional ties to the Brewers because he played for manager Pat Murphy at Arizona State.

He preached of remaining relentlessly competitive with every pitch, and the Brewers resembled the former 5-foot-9 sparkplug in their play, both from the entire lineup at the plate and in the field, where Sal Frelick, a Boston native who idolized Pedroia as a kid, robbed a home run on the first Arizona swing of the game.

"Just trying to win pitches and win at-bats," Mitchell said. "Trying to pass it to the next guy. That kind of goes back to everything we talk about – trying to win pitches. We had a great conversation with Pedroia today about controlling what we can control, being one pitch at a time and it worked today."

The Brewers, who led 13-0 in the sixth inning, have had their advantage shrunk to 13-8 behind an implosion from the defense and pitching.

On the mound for the Brewers, Tobias Myers didn’t allow a run over his first five innings before the D-backs tagged him for a pair of runs in the sixth and two more before he could record an out in the seventh.

Myers was left in the game in an attempt to provide length but ultimately ran out of gas.

More: Christian Yelich made his TV booth debut during the Brewers game Saturday, and it was total gold

Letting it get far too dicey late

Things got far too dicey in the eighth with Hoby Milner and Enoli Paredes on the mound, though neither got much help from the defense. Seven consecutive D-backs batters reached base with one out to draw within 13-8, with Geraldo Perdomo's two-run double with the bases loaded putting the Brewers firmly in the danger zone.

But Joey Ortiz made a diving stop on a Luis Guillorme liner that, had it gotten by the Brewers shortstop, would have made it a three-run game and put the tying run in the hole.

Andruw Monasterio also had a disastrous inning in the field, booting one ball for an error and misplaying two others that weren't ruled errors, including whiffing on a lazy pop fly in shallow left with the bases loaded.

"The way they were playing, he was the closest to it," Murphy said of the pop-up that landed in no man's land. "So, yes, it could have been his ball. 'Mona' hadn’t been out there much, he hadn’t played third much. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s a good player."

In the top of the ninth, however, a William Contreras two-run dinger gave the Brewers some gladly-welcomed breathing room. He hit a shot to the pool area just beyond the right-center field fence after just missing a homer foul to right twice earlier in the at-bat. It was the catcher's 22nd homer of the year, one more than he had last year in his first season with Milwaukee.

Home run derby in the desert

105.9 mph. 114.1 mph. 101.3 mph. 104 mph. 105.1 mph.

These were the exit velocities of the first five Brewers' batters in the top of the fourth inning, who squared up just about everything reliever Dylan Floro had to offer and crushed him like he was the pregame spread.

Chourio and Contreras led off with doubles off the wall before Mitchell followed with a two-run homer to left-center, his sixth of the year.

For Mitchell, the homer was part of arguably his best day at the plate this year. He was 2 for 3 with three walks, raising his season OPS to .809, and he is 15 for his last 48 with four doubles, two triples and four home runs.

"It feels good, Going up there with confidence and trusting in what I’ve been building on these last few months," Mitchell said. "It feels good to be making contributions."

Adames followed with a solo blast to left for his second dinger of the game, breaking the franchise mark he set in 2022 for homers by a shortstop.

Brewers tee off on D-backs starter Pfaadt

Mired in a teamwide funk at the plate for the past two weeks, the Brewers took out their frustrations on D-backs starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt.

After small-balling their way to a first-inning run on a Contreras sacrifice fly, the Brewers strung together as impressive a two-out rally as you will ever see in the second.

With two outs and nobody on, Frelick shot a ground ball through the left side of the infield for single. Joey Ortiz followed with a single, as did Brice Turang and Chourio to put the Brewers ahead, 3-0. Contreras and Mitchell worked Pfaadt for walks, the second of which brought home another run.

Adames strolled to the plate ready to pounce against a pitcher surely trying everything to not fall behind in the count again. A sweeper right down the middle was what Pfaadt gave him and Adames crushed it to left for a grand slam that put Milwaukee up, 8-0, and ended the afternoon for the D'backs right-hander after seven straight batters reached.

Is Adames having any fun?

"Probably the most of my career so far," he said. "It’s been special. It’s been amazing. Especially because we’re winning. I think that’s the biggest thing."

Sal Frelick to the rescue

On the second pitch thrown by Myers, it seemed off the bat as if Corbin Carroll had just knotted the game at one. Even seconds later as Carroll rounded first base and the rightfielder Frelick laid on the ground after making a seemingly-impossible leaping attempt on the ball at the fence, all indications were it was a homer.

And then Frelick's right hand popped into the air, ball in possession.

"Right off the bat, I knew that ball had a chance," said Frelick, who also robbed what would have been a game-tying homer for the final out earlier this year in Anaheim. "I just kept going. I never really had a chance to find the wall. I just jumped when I thought it was close. The wall kind of snuck on me quicker than I thought. My body kind of just reacted that way when I hit it. I was happy to make that catch there for 'Toby.'"

In a year full of home run robberies by the Brewers, this one, a full-extension grab well above the yellow padding at the top of the fence, was as impressive as any.

"I mean, I feel like it’s every other day now," Myers said of the robberies. "He’s a heck of a baseball player. All these defenders are out there giving it their all. It’s fun to watch, especially as a pitcher."

What is the Brewers record?

The Brewers are 86-62 after Saturday's victory.

Brewers schedule

Brewers at Diamondbacks, 3:10 p.m. Sunday. Milwaukee LHP DL Hall (1-1, 4.01) vs. Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (12-6, 3.55). TV – Bally Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers magic number down to 3 after 15-8 win over the Diamondbacks