Uneasy on the eyes again
CHICAGO - You know how it feels when you first get a tickle in your throat, or unexpectedly start sneezing? At first, you're not sure if it's nothing to worry about or the beginning of something more concerning.
That's how it felt for the Milwaukee Brewers as they departed Sunday evening from Guaranteed Rate Field, otherwise known as Guaranteed Win Field for opponents for most of the season against the woeful Chicago White Sox. For the second time in three games, the Brewers looked like the rebuilding team, not the playoff contender.
The 6-1 loss in the series finale looked a whole lot like the opening 8-3 defeat Friday night. No clutch hitting and some leaking oil from a bullpen that had been an out-getting machine for most of the season.
It was home run or bust for the Brewers against the White Sox, and mostly the latter. They went 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position in the three games, relying on late homers to snatch away their only victory Saturday. And let's not forget Chicago's pitching staff was ranked 14th (5.08 ERA) among the 15 clubs in the American League.
Thus ended six consecutive series victories, all against teams expected to contend for the playoffs. Every team gets to have the occasional poor series during the long season, and the Brewers had been on fire for the most part while posting a 19-8 record in May.
But now the Brewers go to Cleveland for two games, against Corey
Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, no less, before moving on to Philadelphia, where the Phillies boast the best home record (19-9) in the National League. This figured to be the easy stop on the threecity trip, so losing two of three didn't feel very good to the first-place club.
"It was quiet today for sure," manager Craig Counsell said after watching his team collect only six hits, all singles.
"You've just got to have good at-bats in (run-scoring) situations. We just missed some balls . ... I don't see bad approaches in those at-bats. We just missed some pitches to hit in those atbats, and their guys made a couple pitches. The margin for error gets a little smaller."
There was no way to predict the Brewers would struggle so much against White Sox starter Dylan Covey, the former Milwaukee first-round draft pick still trying to find his way in the majors. After going 0-7 with a 7.71 ERA last season in his big-league debut, Covey was 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA in three starts this season.
The Brewers had few good swings against Covey, who in five-plus innings held them to four hits and an unearned run while logging seven strikeouts. They had a chance to do some major damage in the fifth with the bases loaded, one out and a run in, but Jesús Aguilar popped out and Travis Shaw struck out, and the Brewers went quietly after that.
"There's clearly something that's changed about that kid, that he's improved on," Counsell said of Covey. "It's a guy that has bounced around a little bit. Now, he seems to be pitching pretty well.
"His ball has real good sink on it. His split-finger change, or whatever, is a nice pitch for him. He looks like somebody that's found something for himself."
The Brewers don't play the White Sox often so they were seeing a lot of pitchers for the first time. That's the way interleague series are, however, and it wasn't as if Chicago's pitchers had been mesmerizing opponents.
"We had our game plan but we didn't go out and succeed," rightfielder Domingo Santana said. "It sucks. We just have to move on.
"We didn't execute in scoring situations, so we have to do it in the next game. It's not like we worried or anything. We still have four months, and every game counts."
Starter Brent Suter certainly gave his team every chance to win, keeping the White Sox off the board until a runscoring single by Alfredo Gonzalez in the fifth. It was 1-1 at that point, and anybody's game, until Suter exited after a bloop hit by Yolmer Sanchez in the sixth.
The game quickly got out of hand as reliever Matt Albers surrendered backto-back homers to Daniel Palka and Adam Engel. Palka came off the bench to deliver his two-run shot, blasting a 3-2 sinker that didn't sink.
Of the nine runs scored by the Brewers in the series, seven came via home runs, one on a sacrifice fly and the lone tally Sunday on an error. For whatever reason, this offense has been prone to misfires too often, and it's not going to get any easier facing Kluber and Carrasco, who pitched a complete game against the Brewers at Miller Park in early May.
Having said that, the Brewers are still 20-10 over their last 30 games and have outscored opponents, 117-85, over the last eight series. In other words, no time to reach for a panic button. Perhaps this was merely a hiccup.
"We really wanted to win today and win the series but you have to tip your hat to the Sox," Suter said. "They played really well. It's tough to swallow sometimes but it happens."