Miller delivers game-winning RBI double in return to Cleveland

CLEVELAND -- There’s no MLB ballpark that Owen Miller knows better than Progressive Field.

For 93 games, Miller called the park home as a member of the Cleveland Guardians, where he moved around the diamond for one of the youngest teams in baseball. But in those 93 games, Miller never put together a game where he hit two doubles.

He saved that for when he was an opponent.

On Sunday, Miller helped his new club eek out a series win over his old one with a tie-breaking RBI double in the 10th inning that helped the Brewers pick up a 5-4 win over the Guardians.

“You couldn’t have written it up any better than that,” Miller said.

Miller jumped over a first-pitch fastball from former teammate Trevor Stephan, and lined it 395 feet off Progressive Field’s 19-foot wall in left field, narrowly missing a home run (the ball would have been a home run in 17 of 30 MLB ballparks).

“I knew that they had been throwing me strikes early in the count so I just tried to put a good swing on it,” Miller said.

Miller, who was traded to Milwaukee over the winter for cash considerations, gave the Brewers their first lead of the afternoon when he hit an RBI double in the third inning that scored Christian Yelich.

“Really good day for [Miller],” manager Craig Counsell said. “He got the big hit that we needed.”

Miller’s go-ahead double turned out to be the winning margin thanks to rookie reliever Elvis Peguero, who pitched a perfect 10th inning to nail down his first career save -- a feat that earned him a postgame beer shower from his teammates.

“I thought his stuff and composure was really good,” Counsell said. “He came up big at a big time. Elvis has pitched in some big innings for us. We took the lead in the 10th but having that runner on second adds something to it for sure.”

Peguero earned every part of the save, as he opened the inning by striking out All-Star candidates José Ramírez and Josh Naylor before ending the game by getting Myles Straw to pop out.

The at-bat against Ramírez was arguably Peguero’s best sequence as a Major League pitcher, as he fought back from a 2-0 count to get the count full before he retired Ramírez with a 94-mph sinker in the dirt.

“At that point you go out there and believe you’re the best out there and prove it,” Peguero said. “I was able to make the pitches and get the outs.”

Peguero’s inning closed out a stellar afternoon for the Brewers bullpen that covered 4 1/3 innings after starter Corbin Burnes was pulled in the sixth inning.

After only allowing one run through the first five innings (on a home run to the red-hot Josh Naylor), Burnes gave Milwaukee's lead away in a sixth inning that featured a little bit of everything.

The Guardians tagged Burnes for the first run of the inning on an RBI triple from Andrés Giménez, then tallied another run when Burnes uncorked a wild pitch. Burnes was chased after he allowed the game-tying single to Will Brennan.

Sunday's start marks the second straight time in which Burnes has allowed eight hits. It was his third start of the season where he’s allowed eight hits, which ties his total from all of last season.

“Second straight start where I got killed by a big inning,” Burnes said. “I fell behind in that last inning and gave up two walks that hurt me. They didn’t earn those, I gave them to them.”

After Hoby Milner ended the sixth inning, Joel Payamps pitched two scoreless innings (his first multi-inning appearance in more than a month) and Devin Williams pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

While the Brewers’ series against Cleveland wasn’t their prettiest of the season, they opened their crucial 10-game road trip with a series win, and now only sit a half-game back of the Reds for first-place in the National League Central.

“It’s always nice to get off on a good foot when you’re starting a long road trip,” Burnes said. “We’ve got a little bit of momentum headed into New York [to face the Mets].”