Isaac Collins' first career walk-off homer gives Brewers their ninth straight win

To start the week, Milwaukee Brewers rookie Isaac Collins was named the NL Rookie of the Month for the month of July. To end the week, he took 3x All-Star Edwin Díaz deep for his first career walk-off, giving the Brew Crew their ninth-straight win.

Sunday's series finale did not begin favorably for the MLB-best Brewers. After heavy rainfall in the Milwaukee area overnight led to questions of whether or not the game would be postponed, the Brewers elected to play, but with less than their usual sellout crowd watching. Parking was limited and as a result, many fans weren't able to attend Sunday afternoon's contest, but even still, more than 33,000 Brewers fans made it to American Family Field, and nearly all of them stayed until the end.

Weather wasn't the only thing that put a damper on the beginning of the Brewers' series finale with the New York Mets. Brewers' starter, Quinn Priester, had his worst start since early May on Sunday afternoon. He covered just 4.1 innings and allowed six earned runs, five of which came before the Brewers scored a run. Priester surrendered 10 hits including home runs to both Brett Baty and Cedric Mullins, while striking out just two Mets in the process.

However, despite the Brewers falling to an early 5-0 deficit, the team refused to quit, continuing to chip away at the lead throughout the game and answering back any time the Mets struck again.

Brewers win ninth straight behind Isaac Collins first career walk-off

William Contreras got the scoring started for the Brewers, smacking a solo homer in the bottom of the 4th to cut the Mets’ lead to just four runs. Later in the inning, the Crew loaded the bases thanks to a single from Andrew Vaughn, a double from Danny Jansen, and a walk by Brandon Lockridge — three players that the Brewers acquired in the last two months. Then, with the bases loaded, Joey Ortiz, who seemingly comes to the plate with the bases loaded in a majority of his at-bats, snuck a ground ball through the left side to give the Crew two more runs.

After the Mets grabbed another run in the top of the 5th, the Brewers answered right back with another homer, this time a 2-run shot. Contreras, who hit an important longball in last night's win over the Mets, collected his first multi-homer game of the season today, giving him three in his last two games. His season total is now up to 12 after starting the season slow in the power department.

It remained a 6-5 game until the bottom of the 8th inning in large part due to an incredible relief performance from DL Hall. Hall went 3.2 innings, didn't allow a run or a hit, and struck out four opposing hitters. It was not only Hall's best performance of the season, but also the most important of the game for the Crew, whose bullpen was thin for today's series finale. Hall's season ERA is now down to 2.83 as he continues to provide meaningful innings out of the Brewers' bullpen.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Brewers tied it up on another RBI single from Ortiz, who bounced a ball past the outstretched glove of Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. In eight games since the Brewers displayed confidence in their young shortstop by not adding another infielder at the trade deadline, Ortiz is slashing .333/.394/.500 with five doubles and six RBI.

With Trevor Megill not available tonight, Nick Mears took the mound in the top of the ninth and cleanly took care of the top of the Mets’ lineup. Mears screamed to the crowd while descending the mound, igniting energy into the Milwaukee faithful.

Edwin Díaz, who collected the final out of the 8th inning for the Mets, remained on the mound for the ninth. The first batter to the plate in the final frame was reigning NL Rookie of the Month Isaac Collins. Collins worked a 2-2 count on four-straight fastballs from Díaz, but on the fifth pitch, the former NL Reliever of the Year threw Collins a hanging slider right down the plate, and the Brewers' rookie took advantage. He sent a towering fly ball just over the right-field wall, giving the Crew their ninth-straight win.

The Brew Crew will try to make it 10 in a row against the Pittsburgh Pirates tomorrow night, with their ace, Freddy Peralta, on the bump.