Milwaukee Brewers News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Brewers Notebook: Contreras and Vaughn Break Through, Turang, Takeaways

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – AUGUST 08: Brandon Lockridge #20 of the Milwaukee Brewers dives safely into home plate in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at American Family Field on August 08, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Brewers Notebook: Contreras and Vaughn Break Through, Turang, Takeaways

Originally posted on Just Baseball | By Matt Carroll | Last updated Aug 9, 2026 1:32 PM ET

Add us as a preferred source on Google

The Milwaukee Brewers wasted a four-run lead on Friday night as the Minnesota Twins came back to win the first game of the three-game series in Milwaukee. On Saturday, it looked like deja vu all over again.

Minnesota bounced right back from a one-run, first inning deficit to take the lead in the second with hopes of extending their win streak to three games. This time, however, the Brewers came from behind late and ultimately sealed a 4-3 victory to give both teams a win heading into Sunday’s finale.

The Brewers started the game with four straight baserunners against Twins starter Taj Bradley, with an RBI hit by pitch to William Contreras opening the scoring. Bradley would settle in after that run, retiring the next 10 batters in a row.

Meanwhile, after stranding two baserunners in the first, Minnesota would jump on Brewers starter Robert Gasser in the second, scoring three on a pair of doubles, a pair of hit by pitches, and a walk. That score would hold until the fourth.

Singles by Andrew Vaughn and Christian Yelich followed by a David Hamilton walk and Brice Turang two-run single would tie the game back up at three.

Milwaukee would break the rest of the way through in the eighth on a single by Contreras, some baserunning mastery by pinch runner Brandon Lockridge, and an RBI single by Vaughn. Closer Trevor Megill shut the door in the ninth on just four pitches for his 21st save of the year.

Contreras and Vaughn Shake Off Struggles to Seal Comeback

Contreras was one of the top Brewers sluggers for the first couple months of the season. Vaughn has been a destroyer of left-handed pitching all year. Both are coming off a month of decreased production.

In 22 July games, Contreras had a slash line of just .186/.245/.291. He had just six extra base hits over that span (four doubles, a triple, and a homer) and struck out 16 times compared to only six walks.

“I think he’s trying too hard,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy stated before the game.

Vaughn’s numbers weren’t nearly as low, but they still dipped quite a bit from his previous production for the year with a .235/.333/.392 slash line in 21 games. He, too, suffered from a bit of a power outage with just four extra base hits (two doubles and two homers) in July.

“People figured him out a little bit, you get a little more exposure to the league,” Murphy said of Vaughn while also expressing unwavering faith in the first baseman. “This guy’s been great for us and he’s a consummate baseball player…he’s as trusted a member of this team as anyone.”

Somewhat poetically, it was this pair who pushed the Brewers over the top on Saturday for the win. Even if the slugging percentages take some time to recover, wins are what matter in the end.

Turang Continues to Shine for the Brewers

Though he was arguably snubbed from the All-Star Game due to a brief midseason swoon, Turang has spent the season showing why he’s one of the top, if not the top, second baseman in all of baseball. Saturday was just another example why so many feel that way.

Turang kicked off his day with a ringing double to right on Bradley’s third pitch of the game, a shot that left the bat at 97.8 mph. He’d later come around to score on Contreras’s hit by pitch.

After scoring the team’s first run of the game, he’d go on to drive in the next two. With two outs in the fourth, Turang took the first pitch of the at bat for a single to drive in two and tie the game. The pitch was at the bottom of the zone and possibly a touch inside, but Turang was still able to put a 96 mph swing on it and drive it to right.

Turang would add another single and a stolen base in the seventh as well as a stolen base, his 16th. With 16 homers as well, he has a great chance at having a 20-20 season for the first time in his career.

Turang is currently on track for career highs in OBP (.365), slugging (.460), OPS (.824), home run rate (3.2%), and walk rate (12.7%). Between that and his elite defense, arguments about anyone else eclipsing him for top second baseman in the league are hard to come by.

Hamilton, Lockridge Prove Why Every Roster Spot Counts

Good teams get big production from their stars to put up the offense necessary to win games. Great teams get key contributions from further down the roster when needed as well.

Lockridge missed almost three full months after suffering a nasty laceration on a sliding play at the wall in May. He was activated on August 1st but had only played in one game since.

Hamilton, who rotates in at third base and shortstop depending on matchups, was on the bench to start Saturday’s game against the Twins. He entered in the fourth when third baseman Joey Ortiz left the game due to injury.

And both were a huge reason why the Brewers completed their comeback. Hamilton’s two-out walk in the fourth extended the inning for Turang to hit his game-tying double while Lockridge’s stolen base and subsequent scamper home scored the game-winning run.

How do you come in off the bench cold and still contribute to a win? Be ready, according to Murphy.

“Definition of being ready when called upon,” Murph said of Lockridge. “That’s who that kid is. You know that was a sneaky little acquisition last year…This kid’s a ball player, and he hasn’t had many at bats but he’s a sneaky really important piece.”

“David, ready too,” Murph went on to say of Hamilton. “You know, he’s learning how he can become a real effective winning big league player. The threat of his steal, the threat of his bunt, you know, sets him up nicely.”

Additional Brewers Takeaway

Ortiz was removed from Saturday’s game in the fourth inning with neck tightness according to the team (Murphy clarified after the game that the injury was below his scapula). He had tests run after the game.

“Yeah, he had it before the game,” said Murphy. “So he’s getting an MRI right now just for precaution. He had to come out of the game after the swing in the [second] inning.”

After throwing a an eight-pitch (all for strikes) scoreless inning in the eighth, Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby picked up his 13th win on the season. That ties him for third most in the league on a list chock-full of starting pitchers.

It also puts him one behind the team record for wins as a relief pitcher, set by Jim Slaton in 1983, and five behind the all-time record holder Elroy Face, who had 18 out of the bullpen in 1959.

“I mean he earned that one today, right?” Megill said of Ashby after the game. “It was a team effort to get him that one. It’s pretty cool stuff though.”

This article first appeared on Just Baseball and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: