Journeyman Erik Kratz comes up with big hit in playoff debut.
Erik Kratz said there probably were nine times in 2014 when he thought he was going to see the field in a majorleague playoff game.
He was with the Kansas City Royals serving as backup to Salvador Perez, one of the key cogs for an exciting Royals squad that pushed the San Francisco Giants to seven games in the 2014 World Series. But the opportunity never came, and Kratz's circuitous baseball journey would tack on another four years before he finally got a chance to leave his mark in the postseason.
"Had Salvy gotten on base, we would have pinch-ran Terrance Gore, and I would have been in the game, including the ninth inning of Game 7 of what would have been a tie ballgame," Kratz said. "One thing I took from those nine or 10 times was the sense of calmness that I felt when there was a good chance I was getting in this game.
"I was nervous watching my guys, when I can't do anything about it. The sense of calmness gave me satisfaction that my preparation was there."
Kratz dropped in a two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning Friday that provided cushion in the Milwaukee's 4-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies, restoring oxygen to a tense Miller Park in the second game of the National League Division Series.
Milwaukee, which had gone 3 for 13 in the game with runners in scoring position, was in danger of heading to the ninth ahead just 2-0, despite loading the bases at that point with nobody out.
"I hit a homer in the Triple-A playoffs one time; that was pretty cool," Kratz joked when asked if it was the biggest hit of his career. "It's the biggest hit, just like the strikeout the time before was the biggest strikeout in my career.
"That's what this moment is. It's something that is an incredible opportunity to be here."
Kratz, at 38 years, 112 days old, became the oldest player to make his postseason debut since R.A. Dickey of the Toronto Blue Jays (at age 40) in 2015. He's the second-oldest position player to start in his postseason debut, behind only Lave Cross (age 39) of the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series.
Kratz spent eight years in the minors before making his major-league debut in 2010 at age 30. He's been a member of no fewer than 12 big-league organizations, sometimes in stints so brief that he never saw an at-bat at any level. He's spent multiple stints with three of those clubs.
He played a part for the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies and 2017 American League runner-up New York Yankees but remained off the active roster. In 2014, he never replaced Perez despite sitting on the active roster.
"I think the energy in the stadium was better than any game I've ever played in," Kratz said about Friday's game. "But we've been playing meaningful games that have had your heart racing since Sept. 10 or whenever we were in Chicago (from Sept. 3-5). We were prepared for it.”
Kratz swung at a bad pitch to punch out in the seventh with runners at the corners and nobody out, and the Brewers ultimately failed to score. When Mike Moustakas hit a single that finally plated a run, putting Milwaukee up, 2-0, with nobody out in the eighth, it appeared the Brewers were finally primed for a breakthrough. But Hernán Pérez and Travis Shaw both struck out, bringing up Kratz.
"I was just hoping I could get a hit so I could see (reliever Jeremy Jeffress) hit," Kratz joked. "Pretty good, good swing. He's athletic."
Jeffress, who had worked a scoreless eighth, was tasked with getting the final three outs, as well, and thus needed to bat for himself. Manager Craig Counsell also credited Kratz's work on defense, and he was back behind the plate when Jeffress worked through the ninth.
"We acquired Erik ... probably more as a backup for sure," Counsell said of the late-May trade with the Yankees. "He has acquitted himself so well through the course of the season. He's earned playing time.”