MILWAUKEE — There were 11,740 fans in the stands and a buzz — a real one, not the pumped-in variety — back in the air on Opening Day. Just in the nick of time, Travis Shaw and the Brewers gave those folks something to get loud about.
Shaw’s two-out, two-run double capped a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, and after Josh Hader pumped 100 mph heat to keep Minnesota off the scoreboard in the top of the 10th, Orlando Arcia’s bouncer to the middle of the infield scored Lorenzo Cain for a walk-off 6-5 win over the Twins and a thriller of a reunion between the Brewers and their faithful.
Talk about a game that turned on a dime.
For eight innings, not much went the Brewers’ way. Opening Day starter Brandon Woodruff surrendered three runs in four hard-fought innings — all on two-out, two-strike pitches. Cain stranded runners in scoring position in his first two at-bats coming off a year away, before coming through the third time up — but not driving in a run. New third-base coach Jason Lane made the wrong call in his first critical decision at the position, sending Shaw home in the fifth inning to be an easy out. Reliever Eric Yardley surrendered a 456-foot home run to Byron Buxton in the seventh that might not have landed yet.
Even the Racing Sausages had a rough time, getting booed when they appeared via video. But there was no need to get salty about that; those stadium employees aren’t among the limited individuals with Tier I or Tier II access, and thus can’t be on the field again this season.
Brewers hitters had gone 11 up, 11 down since the play at the plate before Twins closer Alex Colomé hit Kolten Wong on the right hand with one out in the ninth. Then Colomé fielded Keston Hiura’s comebacker and threw high to second base for an error. Christian Yelich followed with a rocket to right field — 106.7 mph off the bat, according to Statcast — and Max Kepler got a glove on it but couldn’t make the catch. Yelich had an RBI single. Two batters later, with two outs and Yelich at second as the tying run, Shaw drove a double to the right-center-field gap for a 5-5 tie.
Hader stranded the Twins’ automatic runner at third base in the top of the 10th inning before the Brewers won it. Cain went to second base to start the inning and advanced on Omar Narváez’s single, then scampered home on Arcia’s bouncer and scored the game-winning run with a headfirst slide that beat the throw to the plate.