Joey Ortiz homers and Bryse Wilson pitches 6 scoreless innings as Brewers defeat Rangers 3-1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Joey Ortiz hit a tiebreaking homer in the fifth inning to put Milwaukee ahead for good and Bryse Wilson threw six shutout innings in the Brewers' 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Wilson (5-3) entered the game to start the third after Hoby Milner — normally a reliever — worked the first two innings. Milner became the 13th different pitcher to start a game for the Brewers this season, matching the Miami Marlins for the most of any team.

The six-inning stint matched Wilson’s longest of the season. He struck out four and allowed three hits and no walks as the Brewers improved to 19-5 in their last 24 home games.

Wilson said spending last year as a reliever helped him adapt to coming in behind an opener.

“With the experience in the bullpen last year, having an opener doesn’t affect me at all,” Wilson said.

Ortiz led off the fifth by sending a 2-2 pitch from Andrew Heaney (2-9) over the left-field wall for a 2-1 lead. The homer was the seventh for Ortiz, who said he has benefited from getting consistent playing time in his rookie season.

“It kind of just brings a comfortability,” Ortiz said. “It helps me get locked in, seeing my name in the lineup every day.”

Texas scored in the first inning against Milner, who was making his first career start. The left-hander allowed back-to-back hits against left-handed batters, as Corey Seager doubled and came home on Josh Smith’s single.

The Brewers tied the game in the third when Jackson Chourio’s two-out single brought home William Contreras, whose leadoff double went off the top of the center-field wall.

Ortiz then put Milwaukee ahead with his homer. Heaney (2-9) struck out four and allowed two runs, six hits and two walks in five innings.

The Brewers won despite leaving 10 men on base, and that inability to produce with runners on kept the game close.

Milwaukee got three walks against Brock Burke in the sixth, but Dane Dunning came out of the bullpen and caught a soft liner from Contreras to end the threat and keep the score at 2-1.

But the Brewers got an insurance run an inning later when Rhys Hoskins hit a slow roller to the left of second base that got past Seager and into shallow center for an RBI single. The two-out hit scored Christian Yelich from second after he had reached on a leadoff single.

Milwaukee's Elvis Peguero worked the ninth for his second save in four opportunities. Peguero got the call in the ninth after usual closer Trevor Megill had pitched each of the last two days.

“Our pitching did a great job of giving us a chance to win, making pitches with runners in scoring position,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “But you've got to knock in some runs, and that was missing tonight.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rangers: 3B Josh Jung had accompanied the team to Milwaukee for the start of this series, but he has since returned to Texas to undergo more evaluation on his right wrist. Jung broke the wrist in early April and hasn't played since.

Brewers: C/DH Gary Sánchez was scratched from the starting lineup due to left calf tightness. ... LHP Robert Gasser has undergone his Tommy John surgery. Brewers manager Pat Murphy estimated Gasser will have 12-14 months of recovery time.

UP NEXT

RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-3, 3.14 ERA) will start for the Rangers when this three-game series concludes Wednesday. The Brewers haven't yet announced a starter.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Texas Rangers' Leody Taveras hits a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits an RBI single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford can't catch a home run hit by Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz celebrates after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers' Joey Ortiz is congratulated after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl is forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 4 storm as it approaches the southeast Caribbean, which began shutting down Sunday amid urgent pleas from government officials for people to take shelter.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Beryl's center is expected to pass about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Barbados on Monday morning, said Sabu Best, director of Barbados’ meteorological service.

“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge.”

Beryl strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane on Sunday morning, becoming the first major hurricane east of the Lesser Antilles on record for June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

Beryl is now only the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, following Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966, said hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry.

“Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area,” he said in a phone interview. “Unusual is an understatement. Beryl is already a historic hurricane and it hasn’t struck yet.”

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last strongest hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada as a Category 3 storm.

“So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat,” Lowry said of Beryl.

Beryl was located about 420 miles (675 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados. It was a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving west at 21 mph (33 kph). It was expected to pass just south of Barbados early Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by midweek but still remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.

Forecasters warned of life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet (3 meters) in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.

Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a storm that has broken records and rapidly intensified from a tropical storm with 35 mph winds on Friday to a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday.

Warm waters were fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher. Lowry said the waters are now warmer than they would be at the peak of hurricane season in September.

Beryl marks the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher. If Beryl’s winds reach 125 mph, it would be the second earliest such storm in the Atlantic on record, surpassing Audrey in 1957, he said.

“We have to remain vigilant,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address late Saturday. “We do not want to put anybody’s life at risk.”

Thousands of people were in Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event, with Mottley noting that not all fans were able to leave Sunday despite many rushing to change their flights.

“Some of them have never gone through a storm before,” she said. “We have plans to take care of them.”

Mottley said all businesses should close by Sunday evening and warned the airport would close by nighttime.

Kemar Saffrey, president of a Barbadian group that aims to end homelessness, said in a video posted on social media Saturday night that those without homes tend to think they can ride out storms because they’ve done it before.

“I don’t want that to be the approach that they take,” he said, warning that Beryl is a dangerous storm and urging Barbadians to direct homeless people to a shelter.

Echoing his comments was Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information.

“I need Barbadians at this point to be their brother’s keeper,” he said. “Some people are vulnerable.”

Meanwhile, St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national shutdown for Sunday evening and said schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.

“Preservation and protection of life is a priority,” he said.

Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but for a cluster of thunderstorms trailing the hurricane that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.

“Do not let your guard down,” Mottley said.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is forecast to be an above-average hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 3:10am GMT shows tropical storm Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. The storm could strengthen into the year's first hurricane before it reaches the Caribbean Sea early next week. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:50pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 4:20pm EDT shows hurricane Beryl, lower center right, as it strengthens over the Atlantic Ocean and churns toward the southeast Caribbean on Saturday, June 29, 2024. (NOAA via AP)