Brewers also have ‘Big 3’ in bullpen
Boxberger, Williams, Hader have all thrived
ST. LOUIS – Much has been made of the “Big 3” atop the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting rotation, and rightfully so. Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta rank among the top five in the majors in most of the important pitching categories.
But the Brewers also have a “Big 3” in their bullpen, the pitchers who manager Craig Counsell regularly calls upon to lock down the final three innings of close games – Brad Boxberger, Devin Williams and Josh Hader. That trio did the job again Tuesday night in a 2-0 victory over St. Louis, pitching the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
It has been a winning formula for the Brewers, who have others throwing the ball quite well in the bullpen, also. While other relief corps implode
nightly across both leagues, Milwaukee has been fantastic at protecting late leads, going 54-3 when leading after seven innings and 56-1 when ahead after eight, entering their game Wednesday night against St. Louis.
“Any good team generally has a core of relievers that is delivering in big spots, in leverage spots and delivering consistently because you are going to win a good percentage of your games by small margins,” Counsell said. “It's important and the way it's sequenced for us, it's become pretty clean.
“The decisions have been pretty simple and they've done their job really well at a really high level. We're fortunate from that perspective. They way they've pitched has certainly made my job really easy in terms of how we order this thing. It's my job to make sure they get enough rest and keep them healthy.”
Counsell has been trying to protect his starting pitchers, especially Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta, with the jump from a pandemic-shortened 60-game season in 2020 to the full 162 games this year. That has meant giving them extra days of rest as well as limiting their pitch counts to fewer than 100 on most nights.
It's easier to feel good about limiting pitch counts when your bullpen is regularly protecting leads. Beyond the lateinning trio of Boxberger, Williams and Hader, the middle innings have been covered with the likes of Brent Suter, Hunter Strickland and Jake Cousins, who has yet to give up a run in 16 majorleague outings.
Even an outbreak of COVID-19 that spread through the bullpen did not cause a losing streak, thanks to others stepping in when Strickland, Cousins, Hader and Jandel Gustave all were sidelined simultaneously.
With 54 appearances, Boxberger has been the workhorse. He has held opponents to a .177 batting average, retired the first batter faced 41 times and allowed only four of 20 inherited runners to score.
After a slow start resulting from a season-ending shoulder injury in '20, Williams has worked back into peak form. His scoreless eighth inning Tuesday night was his 16th straight outing without allowing a run, and going back even farther, he has a 0.39 ERA over his last 25 appearances.
Hader, who has converted 24 of 25 saves, had a break coming out of the allstar break when save appearances were few and far between, and another hiatus when he was quarantined for 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. Accordingly, he has pitched in only 43 games, which should help keep him fresh through the end of the season, and hopefully beyond.
“Josh has certainly had a break,” Counsell said. “It was a big break, probably bigger than we wanted. Devin got a little break (with minor elbow soreness in July). ‘Box' has been pretty consistent. We had three or four days where he got some time off, so his usage is probably the one we'd have to monitor most.
“But I'd say all three are in excellent condition right now. I'm very happy with where they sit. I'm not concerned about them big picture-wise, but day to day, we're always going to be cautious with what we do.”
Houser likely to pitch Sunday
Counsell said the plan is to get Adrian Houser primed to return to the rotation Sunday in the series finale against Washington at American Family Field. Houser is still on the COVID-19 injured list but has rejoined the team and threw an extensive bullpen session Monday at Busch Stadium on the Brewers' off day.
“He's ramping up to make an appearance,” Counsell said. “That's where we're at right now. There's nothing we need to see. He's in good shape; we just want to get him with us on a work routine for five or six days, basically.
“Everything points to him coming back, we're looking at possibly at the end of the weekend here. We want to keep him going and keep having good days. Brett (Anderson) will start Friday, Eric (Lauer) will start on Saturday and we'll hope to have Adrian back to use on Sunday at some point in the game, but we'll see where we're at.
“Obviously, Adrian's first appearance back isn't going to be a full start, so we'll see where we are when we get to Sunday. But it looks like Sunday will be Adrian's day. How we get there at this point is still kind of up in the air a little bit.”
The only other pitcher on the COVID-19 list is reliever Gustave, who has been ramping up workouts and should be ready to pitch again soon, mostly likely at Class AAA Nashville. Left-hander Aaron Ashby, who made a couple of starts while the pitching staff was short because of the coronavirus, was sent back to the Sounds to keep pitching.
“All things considered, for that 10 days, from the starting end of things we didn't get hurt too badly because Aaron filled in real nicely,” Counsell said.
Spring schedule released
For those who already planning a trip to spring training next year, the Brewers announced their 2022 exhibition schedule Wednesday.
The team will open spring play Feb. 26 against the Los Angeles Angels at American Family Fields of Phoenix. They will play 32 games in the Cactus League, including four split-squad dates, before coming to Milwaukee to conclude exhibition play with games against the Kansas City Royals on March 28-29 at American Family Field.
The Brewers will host 16 exhibition games in Arizona, including two home dates against the Chicago Cubs (March 5 and 12), Chicago White Sox (March 11) and Los Angeles Dodgers. Game times, ticket information and the spring broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.
Pitchers and catchers will report on Wednesday, Feb. 16, with position players reporting on Monday, Feb. 21. The first full-squad workout will be Tuesday, Feb. 22.