Josh Hader surrenders three home runs in ninth as Brewers suffer crushing loss to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO - This one will go down in the annals for the Milwaukee Brewers.

And not in a good way.

After riding a five-run fifth inning to the precipice of a second straight feel-good victory over the San Francisco Giants, the Brewers instead suffered a crushing 8-5 defeat at Oracle Park on Friday night.

And once again it came at the expense of the once-infallible Josh Hader, who suffered a complete meltdown by allowing three home runs – including a walk-off grand slam to Mike Yastrzemski.

San Francisco scored six runs in all in the final frame, an almost unthinkable total considering how good Hader has been until recently.

"It wasn't a good night," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We've got to just get to work and see what's going on and try to help him fix it."

Box score: Giants 8, Brewers 5

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Joey Bart homered to left to lead off the ninth inning for the Giants, who were trailing, 5-2. Hader recovered by getting Wilmer Flores to fly out to center, but Darin Ruf followed with a homer to left-center to make it 5-4.

Counting Wednesday's loss at Minnesota, Hader allowed three homers to four batters at that point.

Austin Slater followed Ruf with a single and after he stole second – despite being picked off first, with Rowdy Tellez making a high throw down – Hader responded by drilling Yermín Mercedes with a pitch after getting ahead in the count, 1-2.

A perfectly placed bloop single to short right by Thairo Estrada loaded the bases, then Yastrzemski completed the stunner by drilling a first-pitch, 96-mph fastball out to center for a grand slam.

"I just didn't execute pitches when it comes down to it," said Hader, who has pitched three of the Brewers' last four games and suffered three of his losses in his last five. "Just over-battling, over-working and not executing the pitches I needed to make."

Hader, who entered the game with a 2.73 earned run average, departed with an 0-4 record, a 4.50 ERA and second blown save.

The left-hander already has pulled out of participating in the All-Star Game, so perhaps the break will serve as something of a mental reset for him.

Hader said he feels fine physically and that there's not one pitch he's struggling with in particular.

"Right now, I think it’s just everything," he said. "I feel like I’m trying to feel things I don’t need to and I lost the aggressiveness that I normally have. So, it’s just little things. But I’ve just got to move on and bring it tomorrow."

Counsell noted it was the fastball that haunted Hader this time, with Bart's and Yastrzemski's homers coming against those. Ruf jumped on a changeup for his homer.

"They jumped on some fastballs, but I think we've got to get to work and try to help him," Counsell said. "Location's always something that's obviously important. He's lived with a great fastball. Hitters know a fastball is coming and that's been dominant.

"We've just got to take a look at it and get him straightened out."

How does Hader bounce back from this one?

"Go in there and flush it," Hader said. "This game’s hard. It’s not an easy game to play, and you’re going to have your ups and downs. You’ve just got to keep on moving forward."

Starter Brandon Woodruff empathized with Hader afterward.

"Look, he's the best closer in the game, in my opinion," Woodruff said. "We're not perfect. I wish I could go out and strike out 10 people a game and put up seven, eight zeros or throw a complete game. But that's just not the reality of this game.

"This is a very, very hard game, and he is the best at what he does. Sometimes, this just happens. But I'll tell you what, the good thing about Josh is that he has the right mindset for that closer's job and he understands that role so well.

"He's fine. I know he's upset; anybody would be. But he's the perfect guy for that role, and he'll be just fine."

Giants left-hander Alex Wood was in complete control and within an out of completing the fifth inning when the Brewers flipped the game.

The turnaround started with consecutive singles by Kolten Wong and Jonathan Davis.

Christian Yelich, up next, chopped a grounder to the right side that glanced off LaMonte Wade Jr.'s glove at first base, allowing Wong to score and leading manager Gabe Kapler to pull Wood at 84 pitches.

Bad move by the Giants.

Submariner Tyler Rogers took over and walked Willy Adames to load the bases, then Andrew McCutchen laced a double to left field on an 0-2 count to put Milwaukee ahead for the first time.

Tellez, pinch-hitting, was hit by a pitch and Hunter Renfroe legged out an infield single to again load the bases. Luis Urías then earned an easy RBI by drawing a four-pitch walk from Rogers, upping the Brewers' lead to 5-2.

"They made some mistakes and we had some luck, frankly," Counsell said. "And then Cutch had a big hit. And then we had some good at-bats to get the next run in. It was a good inning where you take advantage of a team giving you an extra out, then we strung some really good at-bats together."

The defense stepped up behind Woodruff in the latter part of his outing, with a 5-3 double play started by Urías and a tremendous running catch by Renfroe in right that saw him run a mile to glove a Bart popup in foul territory.

Counsell pulled the plug on Woodruff at that point with his pitch count at a career-high 112. Hoby Milner needed only two pitches and a nice running grab by Adames to finish the frame.

Woodruff allowed five hits, two runs and tied a career-high with five walks while also hitting a batter. His four strikeouts were fewest in his four starts since returning from the injured list.

Milner pitched a scoreless seventh and Jandel Gustave a scoreless eighth.

It was tough sledding in the early going against Wood, who entered with a 6-7 record and 4.43 earned run average.

After Yelich singled against the shift to open the game they managed just one baserunner on a broken-bat infield single by Wong over the next three innings.

Command issues saw Woodruff fall behind to 10 of the 17 batters he faced over that same span, with Wade's two-out, two-run triple to right-center giving the Giants the lead in the second.

Woodruff also walked a season-high four batters through the first three innings.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers ace closer Josh Hader hit hard in crushing loss to Giants