BATS STALL IN THE CLUTCH
Lineup struggling to deliver runs
CHICAGO – As much consternation as there has been this season about the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitching issues, and rightfully so, it is the offense that is sinking the team at the most important time of the season.
It was another frustrating day at the plate Saturday afternoon as the Brewers fell again to the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, at Wrigley Field, dropping their third game in a row to go 1-4 in the first five games of a nine-game trip they knew was going to reveal a lot about their playoff worthiness.
Lefty Cole Hamels had a lot to say about it but the Brewers have to find a way to put some pressure on an opposing starter. In the five games on this trip, starters have pitched 30 innings against the Brewers and allowed only seven runs, which computes to a 2.10 ERA.
There is no future in the major leagues in trying to continually score decisive runs against the opponent’s bullpen. Teams have done so recently against the Brewers but only because the offense has given the bullpen little
or no margin for error.
That's how it played out again against the Cubs as Albert Almora, Jr., snapped a 1-1 tie in the seventh with a home run against Junior Guerra, and Chicago got to Freddy Peralta for two more runs in the eighth to seal the victory.
“The bullpen is pitching with the game on the line every pitch,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They've got to be perfect. And they're not going to be perfect every day. We need to score some more runs.”
In the four losses on this trip, the Brewers have scored a total of eight runs. Going back to an 11-4 loss to the Cubs on the final game of the last home stand, they are 1-5, and in those six games have scored 16 runs, an average of 2.67 per game.
Simply put, that ain't gonna cut it. The Brewers have been the worst offensive team in the clutch in the National League all season, and that trend has doomed them in losing their last three games, during which they are 3-for-21 (.143) with runners in scoring position.
After the late free-agent signings of Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal before the season, the Brewers believed they had built an elite offense. It has been anything but. Yes, they can hit home runs with the best of teams but when they aren't clearing the fences, the offense bogs down.
There's not much Counsell can do about it but keep sending what he thinks are his best hitters out there each day and waiting for them to produce. Before the game, he insisted he expects his lineup to produce runs every day.
“I think we've got the names in the lineup, the people we want, the health, it's all there,” Counsell said. “It just hasn't happened. We haven't sequenced things together. The big hits just haven't been there. But the lineup I'm writing out every day, I really like it. I think it's capable of scoring a lot of runs.
“At this point, its really just us getting the big hits. We have guys on base. We've just got to get big hits. The runners in scoring position, if I'm looking at all numbers, that's the number that's not there that leads to scoring runs. That's a timing issue as much as anything. We've just got to have a little better timing.”
Coming out of the all-star break, when the offense started to perk up a bit, much of the damage was done by the 1-2 punch of reigning MVP Christian Yelich and rookie sensation Keston Hiura. But Yelich (4 for 22, no HRs, one RBI) and Hiura (3 for 18, no HRs, no RBI) have been quiet on this trip, and no one has stepped up to pick up the slack.
Grandal and Moustakas each have driven in one run on the trip. Leadoff hitter Lorenzo Cain (3 for 17) is struggling again after a brief revival. Eric Thames and Manny Piña have done little. The only hitter having a decent trip in terms of run production is Ryan Braun, who knocked in the Brewers' lone run Saturday with an RBI single in the sixth off reliever David Phelps.
As sensational as Yelich has been since the all-star break of last season, he needs some help from others in the lineup. He should be able to have a quiet game or two without the offense going to heck, if this truly is in the same zip code as an elite offense.
“Offense is never going to be about one player,” Counsell acknowledged before the game. “The game isn't designed that way. It's a nine-man lineup and everyone gets the same number of chances, generally. The guys at the top might get one more chance.
“Offense is incumbent on everybody. That's team offense. Offense has to be team related, has to be everyone doing it.”
One thing is certain: The Brewers must snap out of this very soon. They are starting to lose contact with St. Louis and Chicago in the NL Central race, while many teams climb above them for wild-card spots. Thames was asked how you do that without pressing, which generally leads to more frustration.
“It's hard not to press,” Thames said, “especially in this situation, against the Cubs, our bitter rivals. It's one of those things where we have to flush it. That's all we can do, and prepare for (Yu) Darvish tomorrow. Go out there and avoid the sweep.”
As for how a lineup with so much talent can struggle so badly to come up with big hits, Thames said, “It's just one of those times. We're approaching the dog days of August. That's when everybody gets slow, the bats get a little heavier, bodies get tired. That happens throughout the league.
“You have to grind it out. It's going to be hard to score runs at times. Now is starting to be a critical time. We have to avoid thinking about that because that's when you begin to press. We just have to go out and compete.”