Pouring it on
Every hitter contributes as offense erupts
Yes, this was the same team that has been shut out nine times, one more than all of last season.
OK, it wasn’t exactly the same Brewers team that walloped the New York Mets, 17-6, Saturday afternoon at Miller Park, setting a club record in the process. Shortstop Orlando Arcia and backup catcher Jett Bandy, who were contributing nothing offensively, got sent away the previous day.
But subbing out two players doesn’t account for the damage done throughout the lineup, with the Brewers establishing a season high with 19 hits and scoring more runs than in any game since 2010. No Brewers team ever had nine different players both score a run and knock one in until this bludgeoning.
And to think the Brewers trailed by three runs before getting an at-bat.
“It was early,” Christian Yelich said of the 3-0 deficit built against out-ofsync starter Chase Anderson. “We hadn’t even come in to hit yet. The way we feel as a team right now is to just chip away.
“We didn’t necessarily think we had to get all three back in the first (inning). It was just keep chipping away, chipping away. We felt as the game unfolded, we’d be right there at the end.”
As it turned out, the Brewers did get the three runs back in the bottom of the first. But they were far from done. The Mets would add runs in the second, third and fifth innings but the Brewers kept answering.
Eventually, the Mets would stop scoring but the Brewers did not turn off the offensive faucet until they blew the game wide open with seven runs in the seventh. Lorenzo Cain and Yelich, the
Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, didn’t just set the table. They served up a feast for those behind them by combining for six hits, three walks, six runs scored and four knocked in.
Yelich needed a home run in the eighth to hit for the cycle and knew it, taking some healthy cuts before grounding out.
“They’re more than table setters,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They’re at the top of the lineup because they’re two very tough outs, two dangerous hitters. The other team knows they’re going to have to go through them a bunch, more than the other hitters.
“That’s their job, to be on base. Once they’re on base, you’re making pitches to the middle of the lineup with guys with power who can really hurt you. That’s the spot you want to put other pitchers in and other teams in, where there’s traffic out there when the middle of the order comes up.”
What a first game for new backup catcher Erik Kratz, a veteran of 16 pro seasons who thought he had seen it all. In the first inning, he tried everything he could think of to help Anderson, who kept going 0-2 on hitters yet still allowing them to reach base.
Before it was done, Kratz would hit his first big-league home run since 2016 with Pittsburgh and add another hit in the Brewers’ biggest offensive showing in eight years.
“It was great,” Kratz said. “You’re just looking to barrel the ball up. You’re not going to change anything. I barreled the ball up a couple of other times and didn’t get a homer. I was just trying to have good atbats. Sometimes, it just goes out.”
While sitting on the bench Friday night, Kratz got his first look at the dugout receiving line for home runs when Travis Shaw went deep against Noah Syndergaard. He had seen those celebrations on television highlights while playing for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but wasn’t quite sure of all of the elements.
“I didn’t know about the confetti until last night,” Kratz said. “That’s exciting. It’s a lot more fun when you’re part of it and not seeing it on the TV. That’s the beauty of being on this team. Winning is fun.”
Nobody had a funnier story about Kratz’s home run than Brewers reliever Dan Jennings, who had been told he was done after pitching the top of the fifth. But, as Kratz stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning, bench coach Pat Murphy told Jennings he would bat if Kratz homered.
Relievers don’t have their own hitting equipment, so Jennings grabbed Travis Shaw’s helmet and Lorenzo Cain’s bat, and went up and singled, later scoring on a double by Yelich. Problem was, Cain was the batter after Jennings, and didn’t know the reliever took his lumber.
“Lo Cain was mad I took his bat up to the plate,” Jennings revealed. “I didn’t know whose bat to use. I didn’t expect to hit. I said, ‘Dude, I’m sorry.’ “
The only down side was the horrible outing by Anderson, who came close to getting yanked in the first inning while throwing 46 pitches. With a 4.42 ERA and already 13 home runs allowed, one less than all of last season, Anderson has not come close to his form of last year, when he went 12-4 with a 2.74 ERA and 133 strikeouts.
Anderson attributed his problems to being unable to get comfortable with his mechanics, specifically how he holds and “breaks” his hands before delivering a pitch. He insisted he wasn’t worried about it and vowed to “get it right.”
Of watching the offense bail him out, Anderson said, “I’m glad they’re on my side.”