Difference of bullpens is in full display
There are a few reasons the firstplace Milwaukee Brewers have built an 81⁄2-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central Division, but one sticks out like an ink stain on the pocket of a white dress shirt. The respective bullpens.
The Brewers have consistently protected leads this season while the Reds far too often have coughed them up. They did it again Tuesday night at American Family Field as Milwaukee rallied for a huge victory in the opener of the last series the teams will play against each other this year.
Cincinnati appeared in complete control with a 4-1 lead entering the seventh inning and the Brewers showing little resistance offensively. But, after Reds starter Tyler Mahle departed, bad things started happening quickly to the unsuspecting visitors.
With four runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, the Brewers turned the game around and pulled away to a 7-4 victory that was a punch in the gut to the visitors.
The Reds knew entering the series they had to gain ground on the Brewers in their last head-to-head meeting to have any real chance at the division title but instead fell another game off of the pace. They can still close to 61⁄2 by winning the next two contests, but that’s the best they can do with just over a month remaining in the season.
“That’s huge for us,” said Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong, who had a big hand in the comeback. “We know how good that team is. They’ve been playing really good baseball. They’ve got a really good offense, really good starting pitching.
“It’s always good to take those games and try to take the morale out of a team, but we’ve got two more games coming up – two more big games. They’re not going away and neither are we.”
This was a particularly disheartening night for the Reds because the Brewers got to two of their prized trade deadline acquisitions, Mychal Givens and Luis Cessa, in turning the game around. As if that weren’t bad enough, reliever Teejay Antone came off a long stay on the injured list with a forearm strain and hurt his elbow facing the very first batter, forcing him from the game.
The at-bats against Michael Lorenzen and Givens in a four-run seventh were the kind that make hitting coaches smile. Lorenzo Cain got it started by taking a 0-1 cutter from Lorenzen up the middle for a hit, and Manny Piña followed with another on a 1-1 cutter.
Wong, who would supply the coup de grace in the eighth with a two-run homer off Cessa, made it three hits in a row with an RBI single to left. Jace Peterson did what he does so well, putting a long at-bat on Lorenzen before drawing a walk to load the bases and prompt a call for Givens.
When the Brewers needed balls put in play, Christian Yelich and Avisaíl García did exactly that, delivering wellstruck sacrifice flies to tie the game. Omar Narváez then roped an RBI double into the right-field corner and the Brewers were ahead to stay.
“The common thread is we’ve been very good at grinding out at-bats against other teams’ bullpens,” manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s some walks in there, some long at-bats in there, and making a pitcher really battle to get through an inning.”
While Cincinnati’s bullpen was busy throwing dirt on Mahle’s performance, the Brewers’ relief corps supported a shaky outing by starter Corbin Burnes’ standards (four runs in six innings) with three hitless innings. Hunter Strickland got it started before handing the baton to one of the best 1-2 punches around – Devin Williams and Josh Hader.
“I would have to say they’re toward the top as far as numbers go in the league,” Burnes said of Milwaukee’s relief corps. “Especially when you’ve got a lead and you can hand it to ‘Box’ (Brad Boxberger), Devin and Hader.
“Outside of those three, Strickland is throwing the ball really well for us. (Jake) Cousins, (Brent) Suter, Daniel (Norris) has come over and thrown the ball pretty well. It’s one of those things where we’ve got depth out there just like we’ve got depth with this lineup, and it’s paid off for us so far.”
There’s too much season left to call this one a dagger, but it was at the very least a strong body blow.
“We played a good game,” Counsell said. “We got to their bullpen, made them work to get the last 10-11 outs, made them go through a lot of their bullpen guys.
“I think anytime you can make a team after a good start from their starter use a bunch of bullpen guys and come out with a win – especially in the first game of a series – that’s a satisfying win because you hope you took a little piece of their bullpen, as well.”