The Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-1 loss to the Miami Marlins on Friday resulted from a disastrous seventh inning, and now, a postgame revelation has shed light on the source of the collapse. Reliever Nick Mears, who was tagged with two earned runs in just 0.2 innings, suffered a back injury while warming up in the bullpen but chose to pitch through it.
“Nick Mears wrenched his back on his final warmup pitch in the bullpen, Pat Murphy said, and tried to pitch through it today. It will require further testing but prognosis is TBD right now,” Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on X (formerly Twitter).
Mears entered in relief of Aaron Ashby with one out and a runner on second in a 1-1 tie. He immediately issued back-to-back walks, loading the bases before surrendering a bases-clearing double to Otto Lopez. The ball was mishandled in center field by Blake Perkins, allowing a third run to score and Lopez to advance to third.
Mears exited with two earned runs and saw his ERA jump from 2.54 to 2.95 in his 45th appearance of the season, third-most among Brewers relievers behind Abner Uribe (49) and Jared Koenig (48).
The loss was also Milwaukee’s first series-opening defeat since June 23. The Brewers dropped to 61-42 on the season as Miami outplayed them across the board. Milwaukee committed three errors, managed just one run on four hits, and stranded six runners.
Freddy Peralta gave Milwaukee a chance early with a gritty five-inning start. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. His lone blemish came in the third inning when Kyle Stowers crushed a two-out solo homer, his 23rd of the year, on a two-strike changeup.
Jackson Chourio provided the Brewers’ only offense with his 17th home run of the season, a 405-foot blast to center in the fourth inning. It extended his hitting streak to 18 games, during which he’s batting .367 (26-for-71) with four homers and 16 RBIs.
Marlins starter Cal Quantrill pitched five innings, allowing three hits and one run without a walk. Miami’s bullpen, Josh Simpson, Anthony Bender, Ronny Henriquez, and Calvin Faucher, combined for four scoreless frames, stranding five Brewers runners in scoring position.
Otto Lopez finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. He’s now batting .300 in July. Liam Hicks added a sacrifice fly in the seventh, completing Miami’s four-run outburst.