Brice Turang's legs help deliver Brewers their fifth straight victory, sweep of the Twins

And once again, the youngsters shall lead the Milwaukee Brewers.

Of the seven walk-off victories the team has amassed so far this season, six have been delivered by rookies – with Brice Turang the latest to provide the heroics.

It was his hustle in beating out an infield chopper in the 10^th inning that sealed an 8-7 win for the Brewers over the Minnesota Twins on a stiflingly hot Wednesday afternoon at American Family Field.

After falling behind, 7-6, in the top of the 10^th, Willy Adames opened the bottom of the frame by singling to center off Jhoan Duran. Carlos Santana scored to tie it and Adames wound up at second after a misplay by Michael A. Taylor.

Joey Wiemer grounded out next, and Andruw Monasterio followed with a fly ball to right that Adames was able to tag up on and advance to third base.

That brought up Turang, who had the unenviable task of trying to end the game against probably the hardest thrower in the game today in Duran.

Duran's first four pitches were 101.1 mph, 101.7, 102.1 and 102.3 as he got ahead in the count, 0-2.

"I was just competing," Turang said. "You just do it. I was thinking about driving the ball the other way and putting the bat on the ball."

He then missed a curveball before leaving a 102.5-mph fastball up and out, just at the edge of the zone, that Turang was able to get his bat on. The ball took one high bounce and one short one as the onrushing Royce Lewis fielded it while making a quick, off-balance throw.

First baseman Joey Gallo made a nice pick on the short hop, but Turang had already hit the bag. He continued down the first-base line as the Brewers celebrated their fifth straight win overall and ninth in a row in interleague play.

"I was just trying to run," Turang said. "I was like, 'I've got to start running.' We were just fighting."

Indeed, the Brewers did, as they repeatedly counterpunched after the Twins seemingly had them down for the count.

It was a two-run Monasterio single in the bottom of the first that rallied Milwaukee from an early 1-0 deficit.

Then it was a solo homer by William Contreras that knotted the score at 3-3 in the third.

A two-run shot by Adames in the sixth answered a Kyle Farmer homer in the top of the frame -- Minnesota's third two-out homer on the day off Corbin Burnes -- pulled Milwaukee to within 6-5.

Then a solo homer by Tyrone Taylor in the seventh evened things up at 6-6, setting the stage for a wild 10th that saw the Twins go up against Elvis Peguero on a two-out chopper somewhat similar to Turang's by Ryan Jeffers.

"We got down and we kept coming," said manager Craig Counsell. "Our bullpen did a heck of a job to keep us there. It feels like it was a little bit of fair play with an infield hit on both sides scoring a run. But again, we were rewarded for ball in play.

"It was nothing special in terms of how he hit it. But he hit it in the right spot and used his speed to get a base hit."

Here's how the rookie walk-off victories break down:

-- Garrett Mitchell homer on April 5 against the New York Mets;

-- Joey Wiemer singles on May 13 against the Kansas City Royals and June 6 against the Baltimore Orioles;

-- A Blake Perkins single on Aug. 5 against the Pittsburgh Pirates;

-- Monasterio reaches on an error on Aug. 9 against the Colorado Rockies;

-- And now Turang, who racked up his first career game-ending hit to cap a two-hit day, raising his average to .225.

"This is a team win, for sure," Turang said. "It's not just one hit or one play; it's altogether a team win from the first through the 10th inning.

"It was a good day for the team."

Here are three takeaways from the victory:

The conditions were awful

The temperature at first pitch was 97 degrees, and Milwaukee eventually set a new record later in the afternoon by reaching 100.

The heat index was well over 100, and the dew point was in the high tropical ranges.

Go figure, the Brewers fell 1 minute shy of playing their longest game of the season at 3 hours 30 minutes.

"It would have sucked if we'd have lost that one," said leftfielder Christian Yelich.

The roof was closed partially to create more shade for fans down the first-base and right-field side of the ballpark. Fluids were flowing freely. Brewers catcher Victor Caratini deserved a hat tip after for enduring the entire game behind the plate, changing his jersey five to six times throughout.

There was also a first as far as Counsell could remember in that second-base umpire Ben May (a Racine native) eventually had to handle the game balls because home-plate umpire Chris Segal was so soaked with perspiration.

The game needed to be delayed briefly in the early going when Twins starter Kenta Maeda needed his arm to be toweled down in an attempt to dry off and gain a better grip on the baseball.

Uncharted territory, indeed.

"I thought both teams did a good job," Counsell said. "Really tough day for the pitchers and the catchers, obviously. Every pitcher that came in for both teams was struggling with sweat and the grip.

"I thought both teams played hard. One of our longest games of the year -- figures -- but it's nice to come out with a win."

Said Adames: "My body is crying right now. It's saying, 'Go to sleep.' It was really hot today. But that's just part of the game. But I think hot is better than cold -- to play baseball, at least.

"It was hot, but I was OK with it."

More: Brewers make preparations for extreme heat and ask fans to take precautions Wednesday

Corbin Burnes made no excuses

The right-hander could have at least partially explained away his day -- eight hits, including three homers, and a season-high-tying six runs allowed -- by pointing to the conditions but quickly pushed back against that idea when asked about it afterward.

"Another baseball day," said Burnes, who made his 100th major-league start. "Both sides had to play with it. We were down in Atlanta a couple weeks ago and it was just like that. It's something that's out of our control, so we've got to go out there and play baseball whenever it's scheduled."

With the sight of Maeda needing to be toweled down early in the game further illustrating just how bad it was out there, Burnes again deferred when the topic of control and gripping of the baseball was broached.

"It doesn't," he said. "It's an outside thing that can't control what we're doing out there. If anybody's going to try to sit here and blame the heat and humidity for your command and how you're feeling the baseball, I think that's a pretty poor excuse.

"For me, I just didn't command the baseball well. It's frustrating coming off a good one against the Dodgers where we kind of did everything we wanted to do. But today, it seemed like we were in a 2-0 count to every hitter.

"Definitely makes it tough."

The three homers allowed -- one in the third by Lewis, a wall-scraper in the fourth by Taylor and then Farmer's shot in the sixth -- were also one shy of Burnes' season high.

But he did complete six innings for the 18th time in his 26 starts.

"Getting those six innings mattered with how it set up the rest of the bullpen for us," said Counsell, whose team improved to 26-11 in one-run games, 11-2 when tied after eight innings and 9-3 in extra-inning games.

"But it wasn't his best outing and his command wasn't great today. He was having trouble throwing the ball where he wanted to, and he couldn't put hitters away -- the misses were bigger and he didn't get ahead of a lot of guys.

"So, just a day where he struggled a little bit, unfortunately, locating the baseball."

Abner Uribe was sizzling like the weather

Everyone knows how hard the rookie right-hander can throw.

But he raised the bar even higher for himself when he took the ball from Burnes.

In a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Uribe needed only 11 pitches to retire the Twins and one of those -- a four-seam fastball to Edouard Julien -- was clocked at a ridiculous 103.3 mph.

That's the fastest pitch ever thrown by a Brewer, breaking his previous record of 102.2 in an at-bat against Bryce Harper on July 18.

"It was a great inning from Abner," Counsell said. "We got him some days off, and he was just super-fresh and super-sharp today. There was two guys who probably hit 103 today (Duran routinely can reach 104). That's the new version of baseball."

Afterward, Uribe said he'd reached 104 while in the minor leagues with the Brewers in 2021. It wouldn't be surprising to see him do it again before this season is over.

"I've hit 104, but I couldn't really control it as much," he said through translator Carlos Brizuela. "Now, I feel like I can control it and be more consistent with it, and put it where I want to."

What's incredible is the Brewers have two relievers who routinely reach triple digits with right-hander Trevor Megill also on hand. Between Uribe and Megill, Milwaukee has registered 90 -- yes, 90 -- pitches of 100-plus just this season.

Coming into 2023, the Brewers had registered 14 since velocity began being tracked in 2008.

Obviously, the game is about more than velocity, and Uribe has mostly relied on a nasty sinker (66.1%) that averaged 99.3 mph coming into Wednesday and a slider (27.8%).

That repertoire has left the 23-year-old with a 1.02 ERA and WHIP of 0.96 through his first 17 appearances. Uribe has struck out 19 in 17 ⅔ innings and limited opposing batters to a .169 average.

He has one save to this point but, like that 104-mph fastball that is likely on the way, one has a feeling there are a lot more in his future if he can stay healthy.

"I feel bad for the other hitters when I see him coming in because I know he's going to go hard on them," Adames said. "But I feel like nowadays, that's just the game -- everybody's throwing 100-plus. With him, it's electric to see the kind of stuff he's got.

"I'm just happy he's here with us and not with another team, because that means we'd have to face him."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brice Turang's legs help deliver fifth straight win, sweep of Twins