Brewers sweep into NLCS
DENVER — The 38-yearold journeyman catcher looked to his left and spotted his Milwaukee Brewers teammates spilling out of the dugout. Erik Kratz then looked straight ahead and saw his reliever standing alone.
So he took off for Josh Hader to give him, “the biggest hug. … Because you celebrate all your celebrations. Because you never know if you’re going to get another one,” Kratz said.
Wade Miley pitched masterfully into the fifth inning before turning it over to a lights-out Milwaukee bullpen, Kratz kept up his torrid hitting and the Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-0, in Game 3 on a cool, misty Sunday to sweep their National League Division Series.
The Brewers have won 11 in a row dating to the regular season and advance to their first NL Championship Series since 2011. They will play the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers-Atlanta Braves series, starting Friday at Miller Park — by the time that game starts, it will have been nearly three weeks since Milwaukee lost.
“One at a time, man. That’s what we’ve been saying, one at a time,” NL MVP candidate Christian Yelich said. “Focus on the now.”
In between sprays of sparkling wine inside the clubhouse, a chant rose up for Yelich: “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
No surprise, after the season he had.
But then the team started chanting the same thing for Kratz.
“That might be the champagne talking,” Kratz cracked.
With manager Craig Counsell making all the right moves, Milwaukee’s pitching staff held Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and the bruising Rockies to a combined two runs and 14 hits in the series. Of the 28 innings in the matchup, Colorado scored in only one of them.
“The story of the series for us was certainly our pitching,” Counsell said.
It has been that way for a couple weeks now, including Milwaukee’s 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field last Monday in the NL Central tiebreaker. The next day, the Rockies outlasted the Cubs, 2-1, in 13 innings to win the wild-card game.
Making his postseason debut, Miley toughed the elements — he wore short sleeves when the temperature was 46 degrees — and was even tougher on Rockies hitters. The wily left-hander allowed three hits over 4⅔ innings.
A procession of five Brewers relievers allowed one hit the rest of the way. With two on, Hader got Ian Desmond to fly out to end the ninth and start an on-field celebration.
The first one to greet Hader was Kratz, who made his second postseason start and finished 3 for 4 with a double. Acquired from the New York Yankees in May for a player to be named, Kratz is making quite a name for himself in the playoffs. He went 5 for 8 in the series.
“I really feel like I’ve played my last game for the last 12 years because the game doesn’t owe anybody anything,” Kratz said. “When you understand that you appreciate these times more than anything else.”
Orlando Arcia and Keon Broxton hit back-to-back homers in the ninth off Wade Davis to make it 6-0 and end any sort of drama. Jesus Aguilar had a solo shot in the fourth off German Marquez that Counsell sort of predicted.
The Brewers manager said Saturday, “Aggie is going to hit a home run in the playoffs, a big homer with men on base, I promise.”
Granted, it wasn’t with men on base. But it was still big and gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
That was more than enough against a Colorado offense that was shut out twice in the series and hit .146 against Milwaukee’s stingy pitching. Colorado’s three All-Stars — Story, Arenado and Charlie Blackmon — finished the series with a combined five hits.