Staying hot: Offense rolls as Brewers win seventh of eight games since all-star break

BOSTON -- The Milwaukee Brewers are on some kind of roll right now.

Riding yet another terrific performance by their resurgent offense, they won for the seventh time in eight games since the all-star break – tops in the major leagues – with a 9-4 decision over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon.

Omar Narváez, Hunter Renfroe and Tyrone Taylor all homered to lead a 14-hit attack that got a hit, RBI or run scored from every position player who saw action.

Rowdy Tellez led the hit parade with a trio of knocks while Christian Yelich, Andrew McCutchen, Kolten Wong and Narváez had two apiece as Milwaukee improved to 11-3 in interleague play this season.

"It makes you feel like a tough offense when you've got everybody doing something," said manager Craig Counsell, whose team scored in six of nine innings on the day. "We've continued to do a good job of that and we're making it tough in a lot of innings – that's what we're doing."

Box score: Brewers 9, Red Sox 4

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Missed opportunities by the offense were actually the story early.

The Brewers had three hits in the first inning but settled for one run when McCutchen's double off the top of the Green Monster in left cashed in Yelich's leadoff double.

Narváez homered with one out in the second – his first since July 3 – and Taylor followed with a walk only to quickly be doubled up on a sharp ground ball to second by Yelich.

In the third, Tellez hit a one-out double but couldn't tag on McCutchen's fly ball to deep left. Wong followed with a single but Tellez had to hold at third, then Renfroe rocketed a ball off pitcher Nick Pivetta only to see the ball trickle toward first to retire the side.

Milwaukee made it 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position in the fourth after Narváez and Yelich were stranded at third and second, respectively, when Willy Adames struck out.

"We didn't cash in early," said Counsell, "Then we cashed in late."

Eric Lauer (7-3), meanwhile, worked his way through some early command issues and dialed it in more as the game progressed.

A triple to right by Christian Arroyo was followed by an RBI single by Jaylin Davis as Boston briefly tied it at 1-1.

But after the homer by Narváez, Lauer started settling in. Then, he got some additional breathing room in the fifth when Renfroe blasted a two-run shot over the Green Monster.

It was Renfroe's fifth in the last eight games and 18th on the season.

"I guess a little rest does people a lot of good, for sure," said Renfroe, referencing the all-star break and subsequent breakout by himself and the rest of his offensive teammates.

"We're swinging the bat well, seeing the ball all right. If we can stop hitting the ball right at people – aka, me – I think we'll be a lot better off. But yeah, we're doing well."

Lauer pitched his one and only 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, which ended his day at 94 pitches. He allowed four hits, the run and three walks while striking out four.

"It was 29 pitches in the first," Counsell said. "He got better as the game went on, but he ate up some pitches early. But very similar to last start – the hard contact, he's avoiding that. So, it's not stuff in the middle of the zone, it's just a lot of foul balls and too many balls."

Following a scoreless sixth by Trevor Gott, the Brewers tacked on another run as Tellez led off with a single, moved to third on McCutchen's second double to left and scored on a Wong sacrifice fly.

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Wong, who'd made a stellar defensive play in the third to rob Christian Vázquez of a likely single, botched what should have been a double-play grounder in the seventh.

He got the out at first, but the Red Sox followed with successive singles to pull to within 5-2. Brad Boxberger entered for Hoby Milner and he was greeted by a Xander Bogaerts single that made it 5-3.

A sacrifice fly to right by J.D. Martinez pulled the Red Sox to within a run before Tellez snagged a shot right at him off the bat of Alex Verdugo.

The Brewers got a run back in the eighth after Victor Caratini was hit by a pitch to open and eventually came in to score on a sacrifice fly to center by Adames.

Devin Williams extended his franchise-record streak of consecutive scoreless appearances to 30 in the eighth. He allowed a one-out single, then recovered to strike out the final two hitters he faced.

Milwaukee put the game away in the ninth on a Luis Urías RBI double, a run-scoring wild pitch and Taylor's booming homer to center.

"It's good baseball," said Counsell. "You win games and it means you're playing good baseball and doing a lot of things right. I think that includes the defensive side of the ball. It's contributions from a lot of different people and in a lot of areas in the game.

"It's important to show yourself you can play like this. And we're doing it on the road now, and that's a good sign."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Offense rolls as Brewers win 7th of 8 games since all-star break