Bat and bullpen work for Brewers
Yelich and relievers lift Milwaukee to 10-inning win in opener
MILWAUKEE— The home team started the playoffs without a starting pitcher, by design.
The performance of their starting pitchers had been so spotty this season that the Milwaukee Brewers decided to do away with the position, at least on Thursday. Their relief pitchers had been outstanding, so the Brewers simply loaded up on them.
The closer the game got to the ninth inning, the better the Brewers felt. The back end of their bullpen was strong and deep.
Four relievers pitched the first eight innings. The Colorado Rockies had one hit. The Brewers had a two-run lead. It was time for the ninth inning, and for Jeremy Jeffress to get the final three outs.
He did, but not before the Rockies had tied the score. The first three batters singled and, after an error and sacrifice fly, the score was tied, and the game was headed to extra innings.
Christian Yelich took it from there. Yelich, the presumptive National League most valuable player, had hit a two-run home run,for the Brewers’ only runs in the first nine innings.
He walked to start the 10th inning, took second on a wild pitch, took third on a ground ball, and scored the winning run on Mike Moustakas’ walk-off single.
The Brewers won, 3-2, and promised to start an actual starting pitcher in Game 2 on Friday.
For Jeffress, an all-star with a 1.29 earned-run average, it was the first time this season he had given up three hits.
Brandon Woodruff got the first nine outs, Corbin Burnes the next six, Corey Knebel five, and Josh Hader four. The Rockies had no hits in the first four innings, and none from the fifth through the eighth.
All those zeroes might have gone for naught, if not for one swing from Yelich. The presumptive National League most valuable player delivered a 413-foot home run in the third inning.
On that January day when the Brewers landed Yelich and Lorenzo Cain, the team celebrated. The rest of the baseball world thought they had too many outfielders. They shrugged and handed Braun a first baseman’s glove.
“Everyone thought we should be adding a starting pitcher,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said, “or two or three.”
In July, they added Moustakas and Jonathan Schoop, and the rest of the baseball world thought they had too many infielders. They did not fret about their starting pitchers. Nor will they now.
“During the course of the regular season, you need starting pitching,” Craig Counsell, the Brewers’ manager, said. For now? “We’re trying to get away from what the word ‘starter’ and ‘reliever’ means. That’s how we’re going to get through the post-season.”