What would you expect if I told you one team had 17 total bases and one player hit 2 two-run homers and drove in 5 runs and the other team only had 7 total bases?

Yesterday afternoon, friend David and I headed north of the border to see the Brewers host Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and the rest of the Angels in the second game of a three-game-series.

We began the adventure with an excellent meal at Smoke Shack in the historic Third Ward. This was an ideal joint for grub and suds although they feature an excellent selection of bourbon.

After collecting our comp Brewers (Barrel Man) hoodie, we settled in for the end of the Angels BP. They put on quite a show. However, it’s become more difficult to ID the players because everyone is wearing practice jerseys. We were able to scout a few of the new additions to the drinking/dining scene at AmFam. Despite the weather outside, there were a number of fans wearing Angel red. We could ascertain if they were locals or folks from SoCal.

Second year phenom, Reid Detmers took the bump for the Angels against struggling ace, Corbin Burnes. Detmers threw a no-hitter last year, and Burnes hasn’t been as sharp in the early going-his strikeout numbers are pretty mediocre.

Detmers got off to a quick start, striking out five of the first six batters. More importantly he mixed things up so nicely, the Brewers looked completely lost. For whatever reason, he lost it just as quickly in the 3rd. The Brewers pushed three runs across on a pair of doubles, a walk and single.

As unspectacular as Burnes’ cutter and fastball were, he pitched 4 shutout innings and only allowed one run in the fifth on a deep sac fly from Mike Trout.

Milwaukee scored their final four runs in the 5th, three of which were unearned due to some horrible fielding by Anthony “I could have been somebody” Rendon. He was credited with one error, but booted another that he would have made easily when he played in Washington.

Former starter, Jose Barria pitched three scoreless innings of relief with one walk, his lone blemish. For a one-two-three inning, the sixth his first, was dramatic. Home plate ump, Adam Beck was not having a good evening, but things got ugly when he tossed Brewers shortstop Willy Adames for disputing a ruling on Barria’s delivery and whether violated the new rule. He was unfairly docked a strike. Clearly Beck is not a great communicator. Manager Craig Counsell was given a red card as well and asked to leave. One of the other umps should have gotten involved because the situation with Adames was not handled professionally.

Burnes exited the game after 6 innings of one-run baseball. He allowed 5 hits, whiffed 5 and walked one. It was good enough to improve his record to 3-1.

Anaheim made things somewhat interesting in the top of the 8th when Trout crushed a two-run homer to left and made it 7-3. Things got more interesting in the top of the ninth when he duplicated the feat, this time to dead center, making it 7-5. Shohei Ohtani followed that up with a two-out single off closer Devin Williams. With the fans finally amped up, Williams induced Rendon to fly out to right to end the threat and game.

While there were a number of Angel fans in attendance, I got the impression that the majority of fans didn’t appreciate they were watching two of the best players in the game. Even as Trout was clobbering the ball, and Ohtani was stealing bases (two in one inning), they seemed to be elsewhere.

Many would argue that the Brewers didn’t do much this winter in the free agent market, but I’d argue they’re already reaping the benefits of a very good minor league system. Outfielder Joey Wiemer looks quite comfortable in the field (including centr) even if he’s struggling at the plate. He did come up big in that first rally though. Brice Turang has acquitted himself quite nicely in the middle infield.

On the other side of the field, I came away impressed by second baseman Zach Neto. The rookie leadoff hitter was 2-4 and reached base four times. I had never heard of him despite his first-round selection in 2022. Even though he didn’t pitch, I came away more in awe of Ohtani. Not only was he 3-5 with two stolen bases, he’s an excellent baserunner.

Trout and Ohtani can’t take on 26-man rosters by themselves. The Angels don’t have the talent to compete in the AL West. Rendon has been a bust since he signed a big contract. He’s hit all of 20 homers since he left Washington.

Even with 12 runs, 2 ejections and numerous pitching changes, the game only took 2 hours and 43 minutes. Trout and Ohtani lived up to expectations and the iffy weather didn’t affect the game or our enjoyment.

Incidentally, it was the Angels that held the 17-7 total bases edge and it was Trout that had 2, 2-run homers and drove in 5, but that wasn’t enough to win.

Photos: Trout on his 7th inning blast and Ohtani singling.