Lacking a spark
Bats fails to deliver clutch hit
It was another one of those struggles for the Milwaukee Brewers’ offense Saturday, which happens more often than you’d think for a firstplace team.
Of course, a very good St. Louis pitching staff had something to say about that. Starter Miles Mikolas, who entered the game with a 2.69 earned run average, buckled down after a two-run first inning and the Brewers would not dent the scoreboard again.
“I thought he was pretty good all day,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of Mikolas, who allowed only one hit after the first inning before departing with two down in the seventh.
“We didn’t really sting the ball in that first inning. Travis’ at-bat was a really good at-bat (one-out walk that loaded the bases).”
Actually, the next batter, Friday night hero Jesús Aguilar, did sting the ball, sending a drive to deep right for a sacrifice fly. Newcomer Brad Miller followed with a bloop RBI single but little did the Brewers know they were done scoring for the day.
That left it to Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who took two fastballs on the outer half for home runs that accounted for all of his team’s runs in the 3-2 victory at Miller Park.
Molina's first homer came off starter Chase Anderson in the sec-
ond and the other against reliever Jeremy Jeffress, who turned a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit in a matter of two batters in the sixth, watching his ERA climb above 1.00 for the first time since early April.
Even in low-scoring defeats, Counsell likes the way his team keeps pushing, however. They advanced a runner to third base in the seventh inning and loaded them with two down in the eighth for the very hitter they wanted at the plate, Aguilar.
Having single-handedly won the game, 2-1, with two home runs Friday night, including one that broke up a nohitter in the seventh and a walk-off in the ninth, Aguilar grounded out on the third pitch, seemingly frustrated that a low strike was called on the previous offering from reliever Sam Tuivailala.
“Late in the game, we put pressure on all of their relievers,” Counsell said. “We made it tough on their relievers. We just couldn’t get that next hit.”
How many times have we heard baseball is a game of inches? That proved true in the sixth when Molina’s drive off Jeffress bounded off the top of the wall and over for his second twohomer game this week.
Eric Thames, who started in left field but moved to right when centerfielder Lorenzo Cain exited with groin tightness in the fourth inning, gave chase but never quite got there.
Asked if a more-accomplished outfielder would have had any chance on that drive, Counsell shook his head and said, “You’re asking guys to rob home runs.”
The good news for the Brewers was that Anderson battled without his best command to hold the Cardinals to one run over five innings. Other than three crisp starts against the Cubs this season, Anderson (5-6, 4.37) has struggled to come even close to the success he had last season, when he went 12-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 25 starts.
Home runs continue to haunt Anderson. Molina’s opposite-field shot in the second was the 16th he has allowed this season in 15 outings, compared to 14 all of last year. The four walks showed he battled his command somewhat but a season-high nine strikeouts showed the stuff was there when he needed it.
After struggling in his previous outing against Philadelphia (six runs in 5 1/3 innings), Anderson considered it a step in the right direction.
“Overall, I felt like I kept my team in the game,” he said. “Four walks is still something I’m working on. I’ll have the feeling for a hitter or two, then I’ll lose the feel for a pitch, and the next thing it’s 3-0. It’s just one of those things you go through.
“I call this a good building game. It’s a good one to go into the next one. We faced a good pitcher today and he stayed in there a little longer than I did and got the ‘W.’ The biggest thing is staying on the attack. I’d rather have five or six strikeouts and no walks, and pitch into the seventh inning.”
And, so, for the fifth time this season, the Brewers had a chance to move 16 games over .500 and failed. It has been the hump they have failed to get over, but thanks to the Cubs taking another thumping in Cincinnati, the Brewers’ two-game lead in the NL Central remained intact.
“It sucks but we’ve got to get the offense going again and start jumping all over these guys,” Thames said. “Tomorrow, we’ve got to take three games out of the four.”