Brewers 6, Padres 5 (10): Eric Thames provides dramatic victory with HR in 10th

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Brewers have forged the best record in the NL Central unexpectedly this season without a ton of late-inning heroics at home. And extra innings certainly have not been kind to them.

Those trends changed Friday night in dramatic fashion.

Eric Thames led off the bottom of the 10th inning with an opposite-field home run off San Diego lefty Ryan Buchter, giving the Brewers a 6-5 victory at Miller Park.

Thames' drive hit the top of the fence and bounded over for his 19th homer of the season.

The Brewers have made a habit this season of doing first-inning damage but this time the shoe was on the other foot. San Diego struck for four runs off starter Junior Guerra, an outburst that began with Keon Broxton misplaying Jose Pirela’s fly to center for a two-base error.

After Franchy Cordero walked, Wil Myers blasted a 0-1 fastball from Guerra out to center and the Padres had a 3-0 lead, only three batters into the game. When Hunter Renfroe crushed a hanging slider out to left one out later, the Padres had jumped to a 4-0 lead.

The two homers would be San Diego’s only hits off Guerra during his six-inning stint. He walked four but never allowed another run to cross the plate.

The good news for the Brewers was that they had nine innings to catch up. It also helped that the Padres started 22-year-old-right-hander Miguel Diaz, a Rule 5 draft pick from Milwaukee’s organization who was pitching at low Class A Wisconsin a year ago.

Making the jump from low Class A to the majors is a giant leap for mankind, as Diaz (7.36 ERA) has discovered. The Brewers trimmed the first run off the lead when Travis Shaw led off the bottom of the second with a homer off the bottom of the scoreboard in center, his 12th of the season.

With one swing of the bat, the Brewers drew even in the fourth. With two on and one down, Keon Broxton – who made history with a 498-foot blast in St. Louis the previous evening – sent a 425-foot drive out to left for a three-run homer that made it 4-4.

When rookie Lewis Brinson followed with a triple to left-center for his first hit at home, that was it for Diaz. Craig Stammen came on and pulled off a nice trick, fielding Orlando Arcia’s comebacker behind his back to get Brinson trying to score.

NOTES: Brewers have a knack for reacting well to adversity

BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Padres 5 (10 innings)

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Yangervis Solarte put the Padres back on top in the eighth with a home run off Jacob Barnes, who has allowed three over his last five outings, and seven runs over 3 1/3 innings over that span. But Manny Piña drew the #Brewers even in the bottom of the inning with a home run off right-hander Kirby Yates.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE

* Brewers manager Craig Counsell, in his previous role in the front office, got to see Diaz in action when he pitched in the Brewers’ farm system. Diaz was taken first overall in the 2016 Rule 5 draft by Minnesota and then sent to the Padres in a prearranged deal.

“He’s got a very good arm,” Counsell said. “They have a couple of players who have made a huge jump from a low level in the minor leagues to playing major-league baseball. You give them a lot of credit to them for doing that, sticking with them and developing them. They’ve had some success doing it, too.”

* Reliever Corey Knebel struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth, Allen Cordoba, to extend his streak of games with at least one to 35 games to begin the season. Aroldis Chapman set the record with 37 in 2014 with Cincinnati.

STAT SHEET

* Keon Broxton’s 489-foot home run Thursday night, the longest in the history of the third Busch Stadium, also would have been the longest at Miller Park. Russell Branyan has that honor with his 480-foot blast off the Chicago Cubs’ Greg Maddux on July 27, 2004.

* Renfroe’s home run was his 15th of the season, setting a rookie record for the Padres before the all-star break. Nate Colbert slugged 14 before the break in the franchise’s first season in 1969.

TAKEAWAY

The Brewers have not performed well in extra innings this season, losing six in a row in overtime coming into Friday night. That finally changed, thanks to Thames' dramatic blast.

RECORD

This year: 37-32 (18-19 home; 19-13 away)

Last year: 31-39

ATTENDANCE

Friday: 31,161

2017 total: 1,046,062 (28,272 avg.)

Last year: 1,026,158 (27,734 avg.)

NEXT GAME

Friday: Brewers vs. Padres, 3:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Chase Anderson (5-2, 2.83) vs. San Diego RHP Dinelson Lamet (2-2, 8.50). TV: FS Wisconsin. TV: Radio: 620-AM.