TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning for Milwaukee on Sunday to help the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 and avoid a three-game sweep.
Tyler Alexander (2-3) came on with one out and two on in the bottom of the fifth and pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings. Trevor Megill pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save as the Brewers snapped a three-game skid.
Jake Bauers drew a walk off Drew Rasmussen (1-4) and scored on Caleb Durbin’s groundout to make it 3-2 in the fifth. Yelich led off the eighth with a hit and stole second before scoring on Rhys Hoskins’s two-out single to cap the scoring.
Chandler Simpson had two doubles and Jonathan Aranda had three hits and an RBI for the Rays. José Caballero’s sacrifice fly made it 2-2 in the fourth.
Key moment
After Danny Jansen led off the seventh with an infield single and was replaced by pinch-runner Christopher Morel, Chandler Simpson grounded into a 1-6-3 double play. Brandon Lowe hit the next pitch to second baseman Brice Turang to end the inning.
Key stat
The Brewers snapped a string of 13 consecutive losses to open the season in games where they allowed the first run. Milwaukee was the last team in the majors this season to win a game when its opponent opened the scoring.
Up next
Right-hander Freddy Peralta (4-2, 2.18 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Brewers on Monday against Guardians righty Ben Lively (2-2, 3.46 ERA) in the first of a three-game series at Cleveland. The Rays have not announced their starter for the opener of a three-game set at Toronto on Tuesday. Right-hander José Berríos (1-1, 3.86 ERA) is expected to start for the Blue Jays.
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