Stephen Vogt certainly liked the way the ball carried at Miller Park in his Brewers debut

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Stephen Vogt takes a curtain call after his two-run homer in the seventh inning against the Marlins on Friday night at Miller Park.

Stephen Vogt was notified by his new teammates that the ball carried well at Miller Park but there’s nothing like first-hand experience.

Playing in his first game for the Brewers in their retractable-roof home, Vogt hit not one but two home runs Friday night, accounting for all of the runs in a 3-2 victory over the Miami Marlins.

“Beautiful ballpark. It’s above average,” Vogt said with a big smile.

Vogt had been in Miller Park only two previous times. The A’s played a brief two-game interleague series there last year, during which he went 0 for 7.

Vogt said he also came here while attending college at Asuza Pacific University but it sounds like he didn’t make it past Friday’s.

“I toured the ballpark and poked my head in from the restaurant because they were on the road,” he explained.

BOX SCORE:Brewers 3, Marlins 2

NOTES:An emotional day for Corey Hart

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules

Vogt, 32, was cut loose by Oakland because he was underperforming offensively and defensively. The Brewers took a gamble by claiming him on waivers and paying the remaining $1.5 million on his contract.

After just one home game, that gamble already is paying off. Vogt actually struck some balls well in Cincinnati without much luck, including a drive that was headed over the right-field wall before the Reds' Scott Schebler leaped and snatched it back.

“I’m happy for him,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s a great way to start out here at Miller Park.

“He’s swinging the bat really well. He has put together good at-bats in both games since he’s been here. It’s a nice addition. It feels like these 12 guys we have as position players, all of them are going to play a role going forward. It’s a deep group right now.”

So deep that Counsell had the luxury of putting Orlando Arcia, normally the starting shortstop, in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and then leaving him in the game to play defense. That move paid off in a big way in the ninth inning when Arcia took a strong throw from leftfielder Hernan Perez on a double by Derek Dietrich and fired a strike to Vogt, who tagged out J.T. Realmuto trying to score from first.

“That was the play of the game,” Vogt said. “Everything had to go perfect and it did. Those two guys made perfect throws. Arcia’s throw was perfect for me to slap the tag on real quick.”

That play took a lot of pressure off Knebel but he still had to battle his command to record his 13th save. Along the way, he set a modern major-league record for relievers by logging at least one strikeout in 40 consecutive appearances in the same season.

The record of 39 games in a row by Bruce Sutter had stood since 1977, an indication of how difficult a feat it was for Knebel.

“It took him a couple of batters to get into the inning, a little bit,” Counsell said. “We haven’t used him that much lately. After Arcia’s play, he pitched really well.

“Forty straight appearances with a strikeout is unbelievable. It’s something else. He should be very proud of it. It’s consistency, that’s what it is. It’s bringing ‘A’ stuff to the game every single night. We’ve used Corey quite a bit but he’s answered the bell every night with plus-plus stuff.”

So, the Brewers made it to July still in first place, now by two games after the Cubs were shut out in Cincinnati. Vogt not only got a curtain call in his first home game with the Brewers, it was the first of his career.

“You don’t have too many multi-homer games in Oakland unless you’re Khris Davis,” he said. “It’s tough to hit two.”