Brewers open with win
Milwaukee kicked off 2018 with a 12-inning, 2-1 win over San Diego.
SAN DIEGO - When the Brewers stopped in Houston for two exhibition games before leaving to open the season Thursday against the San Diego Padres, right-hander Chase Anderson spent most of the time in his hotel room, unable to keep food down.
Upon arriving here, Anderson still wasn’t sure he’d be able to make the first opening day start of his career for the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon at Petco Park. An off day Wednesday helped but the 30-year-old Texan still didn’t feel 100% as he took the mound.
“I had that stomach virus for the last three or four days, and it was pretty bad,” Anderson said after pitching six one-hit innings as the Brewers pulled out a 2-1 victory in 12 innings.
“Even waking up this morning, my energy level wasn’t great. I was still kind
of weak; trying to get my strength back. But I was able to get through it today. I tried to focus on the game once it was game time. I put that out of my mind and tried to make pitches.”
As if that queasiness weren’t enough to deal with, Anderson knocked himself silly with a crash-and-burn slide at the plate in the third inning, scoring the only run the Brewers would push across until the 12th. Pitchers don’t practice sliding because, well, they just don’t, and it showed.
It appeared Anderson did a face-plant right on home plate, but he said he managed to get a hand between his nose and that hard rubber surface.
“I didn’t really know when to slide,” said Anderson, who needed several moments to collect himself before heading for a seat on the bench. “You’re not used to that. My decision-making wasn’t great and I didn’t have my feet where I needed to have my feet.
“I slipped a little bit and I braced myself with my left hand. I hit my head and my nose and that jarred me a little bit. I was shaken up a little bit. I don’t know if I blacked out for a minute or not, but I came up and didn’t feel very good.
“I didn’t know what happened. I went back to the dugout and did some concussion protocol stuff and I was fine.”
Upon being tabbed for the prestigious opening start, Anderson talked about setting a tone for the team with a strong outing. Pushing aside a stomach bug and giving up your body to score a run certainly fall into the tone-setting category.
“It was fun to put a zero up in the first inning and get in a little bit of a groove,” he said. “I tried to attack the (strike) zone and execute pitches.
“When you get the call to start the first game of the season, you want set the tone and make the guys trust you and respect you. When you go out there and put up zeroes, the guys behind you play a little harder, they respect you in the clubhouse and you set the tone for a good season.”
Making the day a little tougher was an offense that sputtered after hitting into some hard outs early, as well as closer Corey Knebel being unable to hold a 1-0 lead in the ninth inning. But the bullpen came up big, including two innings from Jeremy Jeffress, who pulled a Houdini act in the 11th by getting Chase Headley to ground into a double play with the bases loaded and one out.
“That was beautiful,” said Jeffress, who went with a splitter with hopes of getting exactly the ground ball he got to third baseman Travis Shaw.
Jacob Barnes finished the victory with a dominant 12th inning, striking out all three hitters he faced. Never mind the spring training struggles (7.36 ERA in eight outings) that made Barnes worry a bit about making the club.
“This is probably the last day we’ll talk about spring training for Jacob,” said manager Craig Counsell, who counted on Barnes to flip the switch as he did after a rough camp in 2017.
The last thing the Brewers needed on opening day was an extra-inning affair in which five of their six true relievers were needed. General manager David Stearns and Counsell opted to start with only six to put an extra hitter, Ji-Man Choi, on the roster, even if for just one day.
The decision-makers looked like geniuses when Choi started the winning rally with a two-out double, followed by Orlando Arcia’s decisive single. Who knows if Choi will still be on the team for Game No. 2? If not, he served the purpose of making a difference in Game No. 1.
“That turned out to be the best thing,” Counsell said. “It’s kind of proof that you try to put the best roster together for every single game. Obviously, that was a big hit.”
Much like Anderson, Choi showed he could set the tone, even if on a one-anddone basis. Afterward, he talked about a pre-game pep talk from bench coach Pat Murphy.
“He said I’m a major league-caliber player, and that uplifted me and gave me confidence,” Choi said through translator Daniel Cho. “When I came in to pinch hit, I had that confidence to do well.”