Josh Hader gets shelled for three home runs in ninth as Brewers suffer crushing loss to Giants

Giants players wait for Mike Yastrzemski at home plate after he belted a walk-off grand slam against Brewers closer Josh Hader with one out in the bottom of the ninth Friday night.

SAN FRANCISCO – This one will go down in the annals for the Milwaukee Brewers.

And not in a good way.

After riding a five-run fifth inning to what should have been a second straight feel-good victory over the San Francisco Giants, the Brewers instead suffered a crushing 8-5 defeat at Oracle Park on Friday night.

Once again it came at the expense of the once-infallible Josh Hader, who suffered a complete meltdown by allowing three home runs – including a walk-off grand slam to Mike Yastrzemski.

Joey Bart homered to left lead off the ninth for the Giants, who were trailing by a score of 5-2. Hader recovered by getting LaMonte Wade to fly out, but Darin Ruf followed with a homer to left-center to make it a 5-4 game.

Counting Wednesday’s blown save at Minnesota, Hader allowed three homers to four batters at that point.

Austin Slater followed Ruf with a single and after he stole second – despite being picked off first – Hader followed by drilling Yermín Mercedes with a pitch.

A perfectly placed bloop single to short right by Thairo Estrada loaded the bases, then Yastrzemski completed the stunner by drilling a first-pitch, 96-mph sinker out to center for a grand slam.

Hader, who entered the game with a 2.73 earned run average, departed with an 0-4 record, a 4.50 ERA and second blown save.

Giants left-hander Alex Wood was in complete control and within an out of completing the fifth inning when the Brewers flipped the game.

The turnaround started with consecutive singles by Kolten Wong and Jonathan Davis.

Christian Yelich, up next, chopped a grounder to the right side that glanced off Wade’s glove at first base, allowing Wong to score and leading manager Gabe Kapler to pull Wood at 84 pitches.

Bad move by the Giants.

Submariner Tyler Rogers took over and walked Willy Adames to load the bases, then Andrew McCutchen laced a double to left field on an 0-2 count to put Milwaukee ahead for the first time.

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Rowdy Tellez, pinch-hitting, was hit by a pitch and Hunter Renfroe legged out an infield single to again load the bases. Luis Urías then earned an easy RBI by drawing a four-pitch walk from Rogers, upping the Brewers’ lead to 5-2.

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The defense stepped up behind Woodruff in the latter part of his outing, with a 5-3 double play started by Urías and a tremendous running catch by Renfroe in right that saw him run a mile to glove a Bart popup in four territory.

Manager Craig Counsell pulled the plug on Woodruff at that point with his pitch count at a career-high 112. Hoby Milner needed only two pitches and a nice running grab by Adames to finish the frame.

Woodruff allowed five hits, two runs and tied a career-high with five walks while also hitting a batter. His four strikeouts were fewest in his four starts since returning from the injured list.

Milner pitched a scoreless seventh and Jandel Gustave a scoreless eighth.

It was tough sledding in the early going against Wood, who entered with a 6-7 record and 4.43 earned run average.

After Yelich singled against the shift to open the game they managed just one baserunner on a broken-bat infield single by Kolten Wong over the next three innings.

Command issues saw Woodruff fall behind to 10 of the 17 batters he faced over that same span, with Wade’s two-out, two-run triple to right-center giving the Giants the lead in the second.

Woodruff also walked a season-high four batters through the first three innings.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers ace closer Josh Hader gets shelled in crushing loss to Giants