Missing the mark hurts Chacín
It was apparent from the outset Sunday that Jhoulys Chacín hadn’t brought his best stuff with him to Miller Park.
He got away with it for a while, but the right-hander eventually paid a hefty price for it in the form of a five-run fourth inning that doomed the Milwaukee Brewers in an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
It was the second loss in as many outings for Chacín (6-3), who became the first Brewers pitcher since Matt Garza last Aug. 18 to allow eight or more runs while also setting season highs for hits and walks allowed with nine and five, respectively.
“I didn’t have a good feeling with my pitches today,” Chacín said. “When you walk five guys in four innings, it’s not a good game. You just try to battle after the first inning. I had runners on base every inning and just battled with my control.
“I was just missing too many pitches in the middle. I paid for it.”
Chacín set the tone by issuing a fourpitch walk to the first batter of the game, Matt Carpenter. He eventually came around to score, but the Brewers responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to give Chacín a 2-1 lead with which to work in the second.
He worked his way out of a two-on, nobody-out jam to start the second and erased a two-out walk in the third before being done in with a tough fourth.
Chacín allowed eight or more runs for the fourth time in his career and first time since early last April while he was with the San Diego Padres and failed to get out of the fifth inning for the first time since April 30.
It was a far cry from how he’s performed for most of the season, as he and Junior Guerra have been arguably the Brewers’ two best and most consistent starters.
“I was trying to find a way to get away
from those big innings, even though I had runners on base every inning,” said Chacín. who dropped to 6-3 while his ERA rose to 3.82. “I got two outs and was one pitch away in the fourth and Carpenter gets a base hit.
“I felt like I made a good pitch to Martínez, but maybe not down enough, and he put a good swing on it and hit a homer.
“But overall, I wasn’t making good pitches today.”
Added manager Craig Counsell: “His command just wasn’t great today. He kind of battled with it all game. They got the leadoff hitter on in four of the five innings. He made some pitches to get out of the first three innings but there was traffic all day.
“He just wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in his previous starts.”
Chacín’s struggles against the Cardinals weren’t anything new, however. He dropped to 0-7 with a 6.90 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against them and is 0-2 with an 8.59 ERA in three starts against them this season.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked about the numbers. “I’m just trying to battle and figure it out and throw more strikes. I know in all my games against them, the walks hurt me.
“I’ll just try to pitch better against them next time and win the game.”
Chacín certainly didn’t deserve to shoulder all the blame Sunday, as for the second straight game the offense scored a pair of runs in the first inning and then disappeared.
It didn’t help that Lorenzo Cain and Jesús Aguilar were off and Travis Shaw left in the third after aggravating his sore right wrist.
But not counting the 11-3 win Thursday in which the Cardinals were charged with six unearned runs, the Brewers managed a grand total of six runs - two apiece - over the final three.
“We just have to produce offensively,” Counsell said. “Whoever is in the lineup, they’ve got a job to do that’s put together good at-bats and keep putting pressure on the other guys.”
A four-game split with the Cardinals was a disappointment for the Brewers, especially considering the manner in which they won the first two games of the series - a blowout and a walk-off win.
As it stands, Milwaukee is 7-6 against St. Louis this season and 17-18 in the National League Central - a division they still lead by two games over the Chicago Cubs.
“Definitely you want to win the series - especially against your division rival,” Chacín said. “I’m not happy I didn’t give the team a chance to win today.
“Just forget about today and try to get them next time.”