Friday- New opponent same result

Some things to read while wearing your mask.

The Milwaukee Brewers are winners of four straight games, carrying the momentum of a three-game sweep over the Reds into a 9-1 win over the New York Mets on Thursday night. Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball has a recap, if you missed it.

The home run continues to be a primary source of offense for the Brewers, who hit three home runs on Thursday and now have seven in their last two games. This is the 52nd time in franchise history they’ve hit three or more homers in back-to-back games, but they’ve only extended the streak to three games on two occasions.

The offensive fireworks may have overshadowed a performance from Matt Garza that deserves recognition in its own right. Garza allowed just one run on two hits over eight innings on Thursday, walking one batter and striking out four. If you combine three of Garza’s four starts from July, he’s allowed three runs on just seven hits over 24 2/3 innings. In the other one, he gave up five runs and recorded a single out. He’s also the subject of our Tweet of the Day:

@suss2hyphens Yes, that’s his back all right. RT “@MLB: Matt Garza’s back: pic.twitter.com/bUvRnRUaQ9”

— Suzanne (@gameopsgirl) July 25, 2014

• Ryan Braun’s home run extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He’s only the second Brewer with a streak that long this season.
• The Brewers estimated Braun’s home run distance at 445 feet (h/t @MikeVassallo13). Hit Tracker has it at a slightly more modest 432 feet, which makes it the 12th-longest blast by a Brewer this season.
• Khris Davis’ home run wasn’t as long (396 feet), but it put him back into sole possession of the team lead with 17.
• Tom Gorzelanny pitched a scoreless ninth inning, and his streak of 10 2/3 scoreless innings to open a season is tied for the 16th-longest in franchise history. Francisco Rodriguez opened this season with a 19-inning streak.
• The six runs the Brewers scored off Mets starter Dillon Gee were the most he’s allowed in a start this season (h/t @AndrewGruman).
• Carlos Gomez switched up his walkup music on Thursday, coming to the plate to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” He went 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run in the game (h/t @CaitlinSwieca).
• The Italian won the Sausage Race.
• Bernie Brewer went down his slide five times on Thursday night. I’ll have more on that next week.

The series continues tonight when Yovani Gallardo takes on Zack Wheeler at 7:10 p.m. As of this writing, the MLB.com preview has not been posted, but it will appear here when it’s up.
 
Aramis Ramirez was the only starting position player who didn’t get a hit for the Brewers on Thursday night, going 0-for-4 before being lifted for a defensive replacement in the eighth inning. Ramirez played his 2,000th game on Wednesday and has said he’d like to play a few more seasons, and Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball looks at the possibility he could stick around in Milwaukee.

Mark Reynolds had a hit and drew a walk on Thursday after hitting a pair of home runs in Wednesday’s game. He also appeared on MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk,” where he was videobombed by Carlos Gomez wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume. The highlight of the appearance for me, however, was Reynolds’ “Garza” T-shirt.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Brewers’ four-game winning streak correlates with the Monday’s Miller Park kitchen fire, but it also lines up with the decision to add Jeremy Jeffress to the roster. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com talked to Jeffress about becoming the latest Brewers minor league pitcher to turn his career around under the tutelage of pitching coach Fred Dabney.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 3-3 on Thursday with one of the wins coming from Wisconsin, where the Timber Rattlers scored seven runs in the second inning and coasted to a 7-4 win over Lake County. You can read about all of the day’s action in the Brewerfan.net Link Report.
• Mike Fiers also struck out seven batters over just 5 2/3 innings for Nashville on Thursday and now leads the Pacific Coast League with 122 on the season (h/t @NashvilleSounds).
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds reliever Rob Wooten.
• Jay D of Reviewing the Brew has an update on outfielder Mitch Haniger, whom they ranked as the Brewers’ No. 6 prospect before the season. Haniger recently rejoined Huntsville after missing more than a month with a wrist injury.

If you’re heading out to Miller Park for one of the remaining games in the Mets series this weekend, you might be interested in knowing that the Double Clutch stand on the Loge Level is serving “Big Apple Grilled Cheese.” The sandwich contains muenster cheese, smoked gouda, granny smith apples and slow-roasted pork.

Today in power rankings: Nats Insider has the Brewers sixth, up three spots from last week.

Around baseball:

Athletics: Designated pitcher Jim Johnson for assignment.
Mariners: Acquired first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales from the Twins for pitcher Stephen Pryor.
Orioles: Acquired infielder/outfielder Jimmy Paredes from the Orioles for cash.
White Sox: Placed reliever Zach Putnam on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
Yankees: Acquired pitcher Chris Capuano from the Rockies for cash.

Let’s go around the NL Central:

• The Cubs got blown out at Wrigley Field, losing 13-3 to the Padres. San Diego scored nine runs in the sixth inning off Chicago pitchers Edwin Jackson and Brian Schlitter.
• The Brewers, of course, beat the Mets 9-1.
• The Cardinals, Pirates and Reds were all off on Thursday.