MILWAUKEE -- The last time the Brewers stacked walk-off wins in extra innings in consecutive games, the heroes were Henry Blanco and Ronnie Belliard.
In other words, it had been a while.
Showing more of the fight that made them so formidable a season ago, the Brewers finished a three-game sweep with a second straight walk-off win over the Red Sox on Wednesday by scoring two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 6-5 victory at American Family Field.
It gave the Brewers their first consecutive walk-off wins since April 17-18, 2012, against the Dodgers at Miller Park, and their first consecutive walk-offs in extra innings since way back on May 16 and 19, 2000, when Blanco’s sacrifice fly coupled with an error finished a win over the Astros, and then Belliard’s sacrifice fly beat the Giants three days later. You can tell that was a long time ago because there were a couple of rainouts in-between, and there was no dome over Milwaukee County Stadium.
“No matter what happens, we’re scrapping and battling,” said Wednesday’s hero Caleb Durbin of the current club. “You saw it this whole series, but especially the last two games. Going into extra innings, you could feel that we never thought we were going to lose.”
Durbin won it with a sacrifice fly, but to secure their first series sweep of the season and push back over .500 (29-28) for the first time in nearly three weeks, the Brewers had to survive a game that featured seven ties or lead changes, all while playing extras for the second straight game and the fourth time in eight games, which meant pushing a hard-worked relief corps even harder.
“You know, you can wipe the window a little bit and look at this team and say, ‘Oh, that’s how they have to play,’” manager Pat Murphy said. “With that grit, the pitch-to-pitch mentality. Counts don’t matter, situations don’t matter. … Just compete for that pitch.”
So continued a thrilling week that began Sunday in Pittsburgh, where Durbin fouled off five straight pitches before delivering the game-tying two-run double on an 0-2 count in the eighth inning of a come-from-behind win. When Brice Turang followed with the go-ahead double after a 1-for-24 funk, the Brewers had their first multi-run comeback victory all season, as well as their first victory when they trailed after eight innings.
They came home and beat Boston ace Garrett Crochet on Memorial Day, then handed Sox closer Aroldis Chapman a blown save on Tuesday in a win that ended with Christian Yelich’s first career walk-off home run -- a grand slam.
On Wednesday, the Brewers did it again.
They had to come back from deficits of 1-0 in the second inning, 3-1 in the fourth and 5-4 in the 10th after the Red Sox managed to score the free runner but no more against Tyler Alexander -- the fourth reliever to follow starter Freddy Peralta.
“I needed a good one,” Alexander said. “You know that we’re coming up and we’re going to be in that same situation. I trust us with a runner on second and no outs to get him in. We’re doing it right now, we’re playing how we need to play.”
The Brewers were in business in the bottom of the 10th after Sal Frelick hustled for an infield hit -- capping a four-hit follow-up after his game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday night forced extras -- and they tied the game when Boston second baseman Kristian Campbell threw away Isaac Collins’ fielder’s choice grounder.
That brought up Durbin, who lifted a fly ball to center field to win the game and complete his three-RBI afternoon. The rookie has worked lately to simplify his set-up at the plate, and it paid off with a career high for RBIs, his first career game with multiple extra-base hits and his first career walk-off plate appearance.
“You need a lot of confidence to come through in those situations,” Durbin said. “I’m getting back to an approach that makes me the best that I can be. I felt confident and loose in the box, and it was able to play out there.”
“There’s no question that he’s finding his stride here,” Murphy said.
So are the Brewers, perhaps.
“At a certain point, we know we need to turn it on a little bit and make a switch,” Durbin said. “I think it’s everybody just trusting each other on the field, and growing that team chemistry that comes throughout the year. But being a little more intentful with, ‘Let’s turn it on.’”