MILWAUKEE — Jake Bauers turned on the first pitch he saw from Brent Headrick and sent it over the fence in the seventh inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers rolled past the New York Yankees 6-0 on Friday at American Family Field.
The homer gave Milwaukee a cushion in a game that had already been shaped by a pair of sharp pitching performances. Bauers had earlier struck out against Cam Schlittler, who limited the Brewers to two hits in six innings, fanned seven and lowered his MLB-best ERA to 1.35 even after taking a 108.5 mph liner off the thick of his calf in the first inning.
After Bauers went deep, Andrew Vaughn followed with a pinch-hit walk for Milwaukee, a small but telling sign that the Brewers kept forcing the Yankees to work through every inning. The Brewers had gone into the matchup trying to win a second straight game against New York on May 9, and by the end of the night they had done more than that — they had blanked one of the league’s most watched teams behind enough timely offense to keep the pressure on.
Schlittler’s line showed why the Yankees had reason to believe they could still control the game even while trailing. He made his way through six innings with only two hits allowed, but the Brewers did enough damage against the bullpen to turn a tense game into a comfortable win. The contrast was stark: one pitcher missing bats and surviving a painful early scare, the other team waiting for one mistake and getting it from Headrick in the seventh.
For Milwaukee, the result was a clean follow-through on a night when the matchup had already carried weight. For Bauers, it was the kind of swing that can decide a game in one pitch, and for the Brewers it was another reminder that one well-timed home run can finish what a tight pitching duel starts.
