MILWAUKEE – There would be no perfect game.
No no-hitter.
But with Quinn Priester on the mound, the Brewers were bound to find a way to win.
Priester’s bid for a perfect game had devolved into a deficit when he exited in the sixth inning, before Brewers rookie Caleb Durbin hit a tying single in the bottom half of that frame and Christian Yelich logged his 100th RBI of the season in a go-ahead three-run seventh that sent Milwaukee to a 5-2 win over the Angels on Thursday night and a 19th consecutive victory when Priester takes the mound.
That remarkable streak includes 16 Priester starts plus three “bulk” outings behind an opener, going all the way back to the right-hander’s six scoreless innings of relief on May 30 in Philadelphia. It’s tied for the second-longest streak of appearances in team victories (minimum 50 percent starts) in the last 125 seasons, matching Carl Hubbell’s 19-game run for the Giants in 1936 and one short of Roger Clemens’ 20-game streak with the Yankees in 2001.
Count Priester among the big reasons why the Brewers (94-59), with their three-game sweep of the Angels coupled with the Cubs’ (88-65) shutout loss in Cincinnati on Thursday, lead the National League Central by six games with nine to play.