Anderson stops streak
He delivers dominant outing
With a five-game losing streak and coming off perhaps their toughest loss of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers needed somebody to step up in a big way.
Right-hander Chase Anderson did so in dramatic fashion.
Not allowing a hit until the eighth inning, Anderson out-pitched Arizona ace Zack Greinke as the Brewers pulled away to a 6-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Miller Park, finally allowing some smiles in the home clubhouse.
Anderson, who struck out a career-high 11 batters, was removed from the game after Nick Ahmed led off the eighth with a ground single up the middle that eluded diving second baseman Eric Sogard. He was at 114 pitches, a career high, and a figure that made going the distance unlikely.
Anderson’s gem came a year and 10 days after he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning at Miller Park against the Chicago Cubs, only to have it end on a Ben Zobrist double. Two-out homers in the ninth by Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant spoiled his shutout attempt, but this time there would be no runs against him.
It was an uplifting turnaround from the previous evening, when Chris Ianetta homered against Brewers closer Corey Knebel with two outs in the ninth to tie the game. The Diamondbacks went on to win, 4-2, in the 10th to extend the Brewers’ season-high losing streak.
“It felt good to be the stopper and just kind of get us back on the right track,” said Anderson, now 3-1 with a 3.72 ERA. “With good teams, the next guy steps up. It was good to stop that skid and get back to winning ways.”
There was no way to predict a gem was coming from Anderson when he walked the first two batters of the game but he kicked it into gear at that point and dominated the surging Diamondbacks. No one came close to a hit until Ahmed slipped his single up the middle.
Neither team collected a hit until the fourth inning, when the Brewers broke through for three runs. Eric Sogard led off with a bloop single down the left-field line, becoming the first hitter to reach base against Greinke.
With one down, Greinke uncharacteristically suffered command issues, walking Jesús Aguilar and Travis Shaw to load the bases. He then resorted to his trusty slider, throwing three in a row to Domingo Santana that he waved at as they broke out of the zone, striking him out.
Greinke stuck with the slider against Jett Bandy, who laid off enough of them to work the count to 3-2. Not wanting to walk in a run, Greinke tried to get a fastball by Bandy but he pounded it off the wall in left for a double that cleared the bases and gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
“It was a good at-bat,” Bandy said. “He threw me a couple of sliders early, real good pitches. I wasn’t trying to do too much; just put something in play. I got a fastball up, and that’s what I did. Luckily, it found the barrel. I was just trying to see the ball the best I can.”
Greinke recovered from that 35-pitch inning with a 1-2-3 fifth but did not make it out of the sixth in one of his worst outings of the season. With one down, Jesús Aguilar muscled a 1-2 curveball out to left for his fourth home run of the season.
From there, the Brewers cruised to a badly needed victory.
“I was thinking about that before the game, that it’s that one big performance from somebody that gets it done and snaps you out of it,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Chase drove the bus today, for sure. That was an incredible performance.” BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
After being ejected for disputing an upheld video review of an out at the plate with Eric Thames that appeared clearly wrong Friday night, Counsell compared it to “arguing with a ghost.” That’s because unseen umpires in the replay center in New York City are making the rulings when calls are challenged.
Replays on-site showed Thames touch the plate ahead of catcher Chris Ianneta’s tag on his hip, but the call stood and Counsell got the thumb from home plate ump Jim Reynolds, who missed the original call.
“The explanation is, he tagged him or didn’t tag him,” Counsell said of the ruling. “There’s no explanation. We’re not debating rules. It’s tag or no tag. It’s the way they structured replays. I understand Jim Reynolds had nothing to do with the call.”
Except for the fact that Reynolds made the original call, of course.
“Which was a bad call, too,” Counsell said. “I thought a lot of us thought there was enough (evidence). Somebody said no.” STAT SHEET
Right-hander Corbin Burnes, a fourth-round draft pick last year out of St. Mary’s College, was promoted to Class AA Biloxi after going 5-0 with a 1.05 ERA in 10 starts for Class A Carolina, with 56 strikeouts in 60 innings. To take his place, righthander Trey Supak was promoted from Class A Wisconsin, where he was 2-2 with a 1.76 ERA in eight games, with 53 strikeouts in 41 innings.
Greinke went 15-0 at Miller Park during his 11⁄2 seasons with the Brewers and entered the game with a 16-2 record and 3.07 ERA in 27 career outings there. TAKEAWAY
All victories count the same but some are needed more than others. The Brewers lost in excruciating fashion Friday night after being one out from victory to extend their worst skid of the season. They needed something good to happen soon, and Anderson made sure it did. RECORD
This year: 26-23 (13-15 home; 13-8 away)
Last year: 22-27 ATTENDANCE Saturday: 29,746 2017 total: 792,128 (28,290 avg.)
Last year: 786,240 (28,080 avg.) NEXT GAME
Saturday: Brewers vs. Diamondbacks, 1:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Jimmy Nelson (2-3, 4.20) vs. Arizona LHP Patrick Corbin (4-4, 4.40). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.