Brewers’ bullpen day has one hiccup in ninth inning

MILWAUKEE» On Wednesday, the day before the opening of the National League division series against the Rockies, Brewers manager Craig Counsell laid out his rationale for not using a traditional starting pitcher in Game 1.

“For our team, largely, we’re trying to get away from what the word starter and reliever means, and that’s how we’re going to get through the postseason,” Counsell said.

For the most part, Counsell’s logic made sense Thursday as the Rockies managed just one hit off four Brewers’ relievers through the first eight innings.

The Brewers’ bullpen induced 21 swings and misses in that span, one more than the most swings and misses by a Brewers’ starter in any game this season.

Rockies’ manager Bud Black tipped his cap to the performance of the Milwaukee relievers, even after Colorado forced extra innings in a 32 loss with a pair of runs off closer Jeremy Jeffress in the ninth.

“I don’t know whether it was the changing of the pitchers or the pitchers themselves,” Black said. “I mean, that group of pitchers threw the ball well. Right out of the chute, their starter (Brandon Woodruff) has a good arm. I mean, he was pitching with velocity. He had a very good slider. He was pitching aggressive.”

All of the Brewers relievers threw 95 mph or higher.

In the wake of their sluggish offensive showing in the NLDS opener, the Rockies have now mustered only six runs across their past three games, and 32 in nings. Two of those runs came in “garbage time” in the ninth inning of the NL tiebreaker in Los Angeles, with Colorado facing a 50 deficit.

Righthanders Woodruff (three innings, three Ks) and Corbin Burnes (two, three) combined to nohit Colorado through the first five.

“Today says a lot about how our bullpen’s been this year,” Woodruff said. “We come right at guys and compete. That lets the other little things take care of themselves, and I’ve got to credit the coaching staff for putting us in the right spots and right matchups.”

Burnes gave way to righthander Corey Knebel, who worked around Carlos Gonzalez’s sixthinning triple to extend the shutout into the seventh. Knebel earned the first two outs of that inning before Josh Hader, by most metrics the allaround best reliever in the NL, fanned David Dahl to take Milwaukee’s bullpenning gem into the eighth.

And, after Jeffress allowed three hits in a game for the first time this season, enabling Colorado to tie the game in the ninth, righthander Joakim Soria’s onetwothree 10th set up Mike Moustakas’ walkoff single in the bottom of the frame.

“There was definitely a sense of momentum with our guys,” Woodruff said.

“You come in and you want to top what the guy before you has done. It’s a challenge, and it’s that sort of mindset that’s had this bullpen going on a pretty good run here in the second half.”