ESPN-NEWS: According to Insider, the Milwaukee Brewers have officially secured the services of Boston Red Sox franchise first baseman. The 5-year, 189.4 million contract was agreed upon after…

Relentless’ Brewers bid for abbreviated series sweep of Twins

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy wants his hitters to be woodpeckers.

Murphy smiled wide after his hitters did their best impression of the bird in Saturday’s series-opening win against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. He will look for them to do it again on Sunday afternoon when the teams meet in the finale of a two-game set.

“It’s relentless,” Murphy said. “It’s like that annoying, pesky, long at-bat. Chip away. Swing at the pitch you want to swing at. (Don’t) lose control of the at-bat.”

The Brewers will try to secure a series sweep after earning an 8-4 win in 12 innings on Saturday night. The score was tied 1-1 after nine innings and both teams scored two runs in the 11th before the Brewers broke through with five in the 12th.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he hoped to see a more complete effort Sunday. Minnesota and Milwaukee each had five days off for the All-Star break before returning to action on Saturday evening.

“Sometimes the offense can start slow (after the All-Star break),” Baldelli said. “Your timing is not quite there. You haven’t seen a pitch in a long time. So, it’s not totally shocking to see the game in the middle innings and tight. We made some things happen late. We did not execute and play good fundamentally late in the game.”