Atlanta Braves at Milwaukee Brewers

MILWAUKEE – Martín Pérez got a new ball and took a second to regroup on the American Family Field mound. For the second time Saturday afternoon, Atlanta’s southpaw found himself struggling to put away Jake Bauers. The Brewers right fielder had just fouled off the seventh consecutive pitch of his third-inning at-bat, a battle that got progressively more irritating for Pérez. Over and over he tried to get Bauers out, only to watch him spoil pitch after pitch. “That's called ‘draggin' ‘em,’” manager Pat Murphy said. “I don't think you can have a better at-bat than that. That's the epitome of draggin' ‘em.” As Pérez gathered himself on the bump, he wound up to throw his 12th offering of the plate appearance, heaving a four-seamer to the up-and-away corner of the strike zone. Bauers got his bat on that one, too. Pérez initially didn’t even bother to look to see where it went. He knew that ball wasn’t landing in play, either. Instead of dribbling it into foul territory, Bauers blasted this one a Statcast-projected 413 feet over the center-field wall for a tiebreaking two-run homer. His arduous at-bat tied for the longest in the Majors this season to end in a home run (Cal Raleigh, Dominic Smith), and it gave Milwaukee more than enough fuel in a series-clinching 4-1 win over the Braves. “That one felt good,” Bauers said. “I got into the dugout, I told Murph, ‘That might have been the best at-bat of my life.’ Obviously, it means a little more when you’re 12 pitches deep and trying to get a job done.” In fairness to Pérez, that result came with fair warning considering how his first duel with Bauers went.