Brewers blow early lead, lose wild one to Twins 8-6

Aug 5, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Luis Lara (18) reacts after striking out during the seventh inning against the Minnesota Twins at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Box Score

Through five-and-a-half innings, the Brewers and Twins played a wild, back-and-forth game, a game marred by bad defense and the toughest outing of the season for Brewers rookie starter Shane Drohan. But when the Twins’ beleagured but retooled bullpen took over, the Brewer bats couldn’t come up with a needed clutch hit, and Minnesota walked away with an 8-6 victory in the first game of this three-game series.

Drohan took a minute to settle in and walked the leadoff hitter, Austin Martin, on five pitches. Drohan got into the evening with strikeouts of Ryan Jeffers and Royce Lewis, though Martin stole second during Jeffers’ at-bat. With two out, Josh Bell hit a soft line drive up the middle that looked destined for center field, but Brice Turang was able to cut it off and almost threw the lead-footed Bell out at first. Turang didn’t get the out but he saved a run, and one batter later, Kody Clemens flew out to left to end a scoreless top of the first.

Minnesota starter Zebby Matthews, just recalled from Triple-A St. Paul today, started his evening with a strikeout of Turang. But he wasn’t so fortunate against the suddenly red-hot Jackson Chourio, who hit a 108 mph shot off the batter’s eye in center field to get the evening’s scoring started. Jake Bauers and William Contreras were retired to end the inning, but the Brewers had an early 1-0 lead.

👋 WAVE GOODBYE TO THAT ONE https://t.co/iDoKXnLafC pic.twitter.com/gt69IpzHtA

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 7, 2026

Drohan issued his second free pass to start the second inning, this one to Luke Keaschall. But the Minnesota debutante Kaelen Culpepper popped out to first, old friend Victor Caratini struck out, and Ryan Kreidler grounded out to short.

After a Garrett Mitchell groundout to start the second, Christian Yelich scalded a line drive into the gap, which Clemens was able to cut off to hold Yelich to a single. After a Luis Lara walk pushed Yelich up to second, Matthews should’ve gotten out of the inning after a Cooper Pratt flyout to right and a weak ground ball to second from David Hamilton, but Lewis whiffed on the ground ball—a really bad error—and Yelich was able to score as the ball rolled into right field. The damage wasn’t done, though; Turang followed Hamilton with a screamer of a double into the right-field corner that scored two more. Chourio grounded out to end the inning, but Milwaukee had a 4-0 lead after two.

Yeli adds to the lead → https://t.co/68EQQYUZ6Z pic.twitter.com/3YCnPoFMcA

— Brewers.TV (@BrewersdotTV) August 8, 2026

Bring em all home Brice pic.twitter.com/dh29JifE9b

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 8, 2026

Drohan walked his third batter with one out in the third, the first time he’d walked three since June 24. Lewis almost hit a ball out in the left corner, but it hung up enough for Chourio to make the catch on the warning track. Josh Bell, though, didn’t get under one like Lewis did—he got a 1-1 sinker right down the middle and crushed it to the back of the Brewer bullpen for a two-run homer. Clemens grounded out to end the inning but the Twins had halved the lead.

After a very quick bottom of the third, the Twins built on their second-inning momentum. With one out, Kaelen Culpepper—the twins #2 prospect, playing in his major-league debut—got up to an 0-2 fastball that didn’t quite get high enough and hit it out for his first big-league hit, a solo homer. Caratini then walked, Kreidler bunted for a hit, and Martin lined a ball hard into left. Caratin scored easily, but a well-executed relay from Chourio to Pratt to Contreras cut down Kreidler at the plate, keeping the score tied. Jeffers popped out to end the inning, but the Brewers’ early lead had disappeared.

Coop's throw 😮‍💨 → https://t.co/68EQQYUZ6Z pic.twitter.com/RmTRF73fnU

— Brewers.TV (@BrewersdotTV) August 8, 2026

The Brewers got a one-out single from Lara in the bottom of the fourth, but Pratt hit into a 3-4-1 double play that ended the inning. Drohan, still pitching after his tough fourth inning, gave up back-to-back singles to Lewis and Bell to start the fifth, and when Clemens dropped a bunt down—presumably intended to be a sacrifice—Drohan slipped and couldn’t field it, which loaded the bases with nobody out.

Keaschall swung at the first pitch he saw and managed a jam-shot single into left that scored one and gave the Twins a 5-4 lead. Culpepper was next, and he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, which scored another run but gave the Brewers a path out of the inning; Caratini nearly added another run when he hit a solid line drive to center, but Mitchell caught it on the run. The inning was finally over, but the Twins had turned a 4-0 deficit into a 6-4 lead after scoring two runs in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings.

Looking for a quick response, Hamilton gave the Brewers a leadoff baserunner in the bottom of the inning when he hit a soft grounder to short—Culpepper misplayed it, but likely wouldn’t have had a play anyway, and Hamilton was given an infield hit. Turang, who was next, lined a single through the middle on a 1-2 pitch which advanced Hamilton to third and gave the Brewers runners on the corners with no outs for Chourio, their hottest hitter.

Matthews was either rattled or afraid of Chourio or both, and he walked him on four pitches, and just like the Twins in the top of the inning, the Brewers had the bases juiced with no outs. Bauers nearly blew the roof of the place when he hit a ball hard to deep left, but Martin caught it going back on the warning track. Hamilton tagged and scored, but it was a little bit of a letdown that it wasn’t more.

Milwaukee still had a good opportunity with runners on first and seco...

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