Rhys Hoskins’ slam carries Brewers past Rangers

Rhys Hoskins hit a grand slam for his first homer in three weeks, rallying the Milwaukee Brewers to 6-3 victory over the visiting Texas Rangers on Monday night in the opener of the three-game series.

With the Rangers up 3-1, William Contreras doubled to open the bottom of the sixth inning, chasing Texas starter Michael Lorenzen.

Jacob Latz (2-2), who had not allowed a run in his previous eight appearances, took over on the mound and walked Christian Yelich and Willy Adames. Hoskins then sent the first pitch 399 feet to left for his 11th homer to put Milwaukee up 5-3.

The Brewers added one more in the inning when Blake Perkins walked with two outs against Jonathan Hernandez, stole second and scored on Andruw Monasterio’s bloop single to shallow center.

Texas loaded the bases in the seventh on three walks issued by Jared Koenig, but he escaped by striking out Nathaniel Lowe to end the inning.

Joel Payamps tossed a scoreless eighth and Trevor Megill handled the ninth for his 16th save, snapping the Rangers’ season-high-tying, four-game winning streak.

Milwaukee won its second game in a row.

Adolis Garcia put Texas up 3-1, opening the top of the sixth with his 14th home run. The blast came off reliever Elvis Peguero (5-2), who got the win.

Held to one hit through the first four innings, the Rangers broke through against Brewers starter Freddy Peralta in the fifth. Jonah Heim singled with one out and Leody Taveras drew a two-out walk. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager followed with consecutive RBI singles to put Texas up 2-0.

Milwaukee got one back in the bottom of the fifth. Jackson Chourio singled with one out, took third on Perkins’ single and scored on a two-out wild pitch.

Peralta allowed two runs on four hits, striking out six and walking two but needing 104 pitches to get through five innings.

Lorenzen went five-plus innings and yielded two runs on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

–Field Level Media