Brice Turang singled home the tiebreaking run in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday, and the visiting Milwaukee Brewers avoided a three-game sweep with a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres.
Turang lined a two-strike pitch from Adrian Morejon (13-6) into center field to score Jackson Chourio, who singled with two outs and swiped second.
Danny Jansen added insurance in the ninth by cracking his 13th homer of the year – his second with Milwaukee – over the left-field fence.
Aaron Ashby (5-2) got the last out of the sixth inning to earn the win and Abner Uribe, the sixth Milwaukee pitcher of the day, threw the ninth for his sixth save. The Brewers (96-63) reduced their magic number to clinch MLB’s best record to one. One more Milwaukee win or Philadelphia loss would give the Brewers home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
The result ended San Diego’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Padres to 87-72. They are two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West and two games behind the Chicago Cubs for the NL’s first wild-card spot, pending the outcomes of both teams’ games Wednesday night.
Padres manager Mike Shildt wasn’t around for the end of the game. Home plate umpire Chad Fairchild ejected him in the bottom of the seventh after Freddy Fermin looked at a third strike with the bases loaded and one out. The next batter, Luis Arraez, flied out to center to end the threat.
Andrew Vaughn put Milwaukee ahead 1-0 in the fifth when he laced a two-out RBI double to left that scored Turang, who singled and took third on a wild pitch that caromed off Fermin and bounced to the Brewers’ dugout behind third base.
Jackson Merrill tied it for San Diego in the sixth, drilling a solo homer to left, his 16th of the year, off Erick Fedde.
Neither starter was involved in the decision. Milwaukee’s Chad Patrick fanned six in three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks. Padres starter Dylan Cease gave up six hits and a run over five innings with two walks and eight strikeouts.
