Brewers make it to Labor Day in top wild-card spot in National League.
Brewers finally have the type of game they needed to keep moving forward
WASHINGTON – Sunday was a different kind of day for the Milwaukee Brewers.
For beginners, it didn’t rain, the first time that happened in the three-game series against Washington. More importantly, for the first time in a while, win or lose, there was no late-inning bullpen drama.
Yes, it is legal to score a bunch of runs and cruise to victory and the Brewers did exactly that by romping over the Nationals, 9-4, at Nationals Park to claim their fourth consecutive series. By passing St. Louis, a 6-4 loser to Cincinnati in 10 innings, the Brewers made it to Labor Day in the top wildcard spot in the National League.
After the discouraging, rain-delayed, late-inning bullpen meltdown Saturday night, it was essential to take advantage of Washington pushing back ace Max Scherzer from the series finale to Monday against the Cardinals. The Brewers certainly weren’t going to complain about that development, but when they fell behind, 4-2, in the third
inning, thanks to another poor outing by Junior Guerra, things weren’t looking so great.
Then, two September call-ups made their presence known, which is why the final month can be so unpredictable. Keon Broxton knocked a three-run homer onto Capitol Hill to put the Brewers on top and ignite a seven-run rally in the fifth, and right-hander Brandon Woodruff made sure the Nationals would not get frisky by tossing four shutout innings.
“This was Brandon Woodruff’s game,” manager Craig Counsell said. “To deliver four innings of scoreless relief in that situation is absolutely huge.
“It’s really the inning after we scored those seven runs, when he put a zero up, that I thought settled the game down. I know we had a good lead at that point, but it felt like the energy got taken out of them. We’ve had several of these big innings, but one of the things that has happened is we’ve given up runs immediately following it.”
Which brings us to Christian Yelich, whose first career grand slam capped the seven-run outburst. How many players leave home on a two-city trip without having hit for the cycle or hit a grand slam, and return home having done both?
Yelich has thrust himself squarely into the NL MVP conversation with an extended tear. Since Aug. 18, he is batting .361 with nine home runs, most in the majors, and 21 RBI.
Overall, Yelich is hitting .316 – giving the Brewers a chance for their first batting champ – with 27 home runs, 81 RBI, a .381 on-base percentage and .940 OPS.
“He has clearly taken a jump in his offensive play,” Counsell said. “The second half has been something to behold. Now, the home runs are coming at a pretty good pace. He is having moments, especially on this road trip, where he’s doing kind of superhuman things, really cool things, ‘he didn’t just do that’ kind of things. He’s doing a lot for us.”
The worst person to talk about Yelich is Yelich, who is genuinely humble about his on-field accomplishments. But he’s in a special kind of groove right now, the kind of white-hot streak that you don’t question or really want to talk about much.
“Winning series – that’s the biggest thing,” Yelich said. “We had every kind of game you could have here. We had some rain, some extra-inning ones in Cincy. But overall a good trip.
“You just do anything you can to help the guys win. We got some guys on with two outs and you just try to find a way to get it done.”
Counsell, who does not publicly criticize his players, continued to insist that starter Junior Guerra pitched better than his results showed (five hits, two walks, four runs in three innings), but that’s a moot point at this stage. Guerra has a 7.62 ERA since mid-July so it’s time to move on. If the Brewers didn’t trade for Gio Gonzalez to put him in the rotation, why did they bother?
So, on to a slightly huge three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs. The Brewers probably would have to sweep to have a legitimate shot to go for the division crown, but with two wild cards, you just try to win as many games as possible and see how it shakes out.
Woodruff struggled as a starter last September and Broxton lost playing time to now-departed Brett Phillips, so to get immediate contributions from them after being summoned was big. Broxton said he is trying to mimic some things that Yelich is doing at the plate, mainly staying calm with his body, which certainly can’t hurt.
“Over the course of my time here, my clutch hits have not been as high as I wanted them to be,” Broxton said. “My thing moving forward is to come up big whenever the team needs me.
"Before that at-bat, I was like, ‘Man, get a clutch hit, one time, for the boys.’ And I did. I would have been happy with a single right there."
And, so, it became a different day for the Brewers, and one they really needed after the previous night’s disappointment.