Brewers hope Lyles can deliver
Grandal thinks pitcher will get back on track
OAKLAND, Calif. - Jordan Lyles hadn't even arrived at Oakland Coliseum on Tuesday afternoon, yet catcher
Yasmani Grandal already had a pretty good idea of what kind of game he plans to call with the right-hander on the mound.
Lyles, acquired
Monday from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for minor-leaguer Cody Pon
ce, will presumably start Wednesday night's game against the Oakland A's, although the Milwaukee Brewers had yet to formally announce it.
“I've already gone through all his stuff – what works, what doesn't,” said Grandal, who also saw plenty of Lyles from 2014-17 when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lyles was pitching for the Colorado Rockies.
Grandal said he also watched between two and three hours of video on Lyles on the team's off day Monday, and then did some more in-depth boning up Tuesday after arriving at the ballpark.
“I think it's just a matter of now getting him to trust me and what I'm doing behind the plate, or what Manny (Piña) is doing behind the plate,” Grandal continued. “Then we can just go from there.
“Obviously, we need it. We need guys that can come in and compete at a high level, just like he's been doing. With what Manny and I are capable of going behind the plate, it's going to help him, too.”
Indeed, the Brewers were in desperate straits with regard to their rotation prior to acquiring the 28-year-old Lyles after right-handers Brandon Woodruff (left oblique strain) and Jhoulys Chacín (right lat) landed on the injured list within three days of each other and lefthander Gio Gonzalez had to leave his start Friday prematurely with shoulder stiffness.
Lyles made 11 appearances out of the bullpen for Milwaukee late last season, but his role suddenly becomes much more crucial with the team badly needing bodies with two months to go in the regular season and what's essentially a three-team logjam atop the Central Division standings with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.
Lyles is 5-7 with a 5.36 earned run average and WHIP of 1.47 after making 17 starts for the Pirates.
But his numbers were tremendous over his first eight starts – 4-1, 1.97 ERA – and obviously the hope is Grandal, Piña and the Brewers' coaching staff can get him back pitching more like that rather than the 0-5, 10.00 ERA he's logged in seven starts since returning from a hamstring strain.
“It's a familiar face,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He's had some success this year. The last couple starts haven't been good. It's not going to be a major overhaul, by any means. There's a couple little things that we see that we're going to suggest. Other than that, it's just going to be, ‘Go out and make pitches.'
“We need guys right now pending Gio here, where we've got a pretty big hole.
Jordan will fill that. He's had success, and he had a stretch this year where he was really darn good. If we get a version of that, we're looking pretty good.”
Wait and see
All that had been cemented with regard to the Brewers' pitching plan heading into their opener with the A's was that right-hander Adrian Houser would start opposite right-hander Chris Bassitt.
It was the seventh start of the season for Houser, who's been markedly better pitching out of the bullpen (4-0, 1.47 ERA in 302⁄3 innings) as opposed to the rotation (0-4, 7.83 in 23 innings).
“He's been up to 90 pitches less than three weeks ago, so he's stretched out,” said Counsell of Houser, who was moved back to relief after starting against the Atlanta Braves on July 15.
“Really, this is just how the game's going and how hard he's working. We're in really good shape because it's after an off-day so there's no issues with needing him to go longer. We'll just read it. We don't need him to throw 100 pitches tonight, by any means.”
Game plan for Gonzalez
Assuming Lyles starts Wednesday, then it likely will be Chase Anderson who will take the mound for Thursday's finale, barring another trade acquisition or personnel move.
Gonzalez engaged in a session of catch before Tuesday's game, and the outcome of that will dictate how he and the Brewers move forward. If no issues arise from that, he could start Friday or Saturday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Gonzalez made the best start of his short Brewers career before leaving Friday's game, limiting Chicago to three hits, two runs and a walk with nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.
“We'll get some more information from (playing catch), and that'll set the course with some other things,” Counsell said. “The best-case scenario for him is to avoid the injured list.
“When we start him, because of the off-day Monday, we have some flexibility. If he avoids the injured list, I would say Thursday's probably not going to happen, but Friday or Saturday, one of those days he'd have to pitch.”
Gonzalez, who spent time before the game reminiscing with some longtime Bay Area media members who covered him when he was an up-and-coming prospect in the Athletics' organization, was upbeat about his chances of taking the mound soon.
“I feel great,” he said. “We're still lined up for Chicago. Hopefully I'm going to feel strong enough to go out there and pitch a game.”