Offense comes up with no answers again
NEW YORK – It was a similar refrain in the Milwaukee Brewers' clubhouse Tuesday night after getting shut out once again: The offense simply isn't doing enough right now.
A 4-0 loss to the New York Mets that had the Brewers under the spell of righthander Chris Bassitt marked the 11th loss in 13 games for Milwaukee and its fourth shutout in the last 10 games.
"He was throwing well tonight," Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez said. "He was throwing it well tonight. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to him."
Mired in a prolonged, teamwide slump, the Brewers took no solace in any hard contact or moral victories that may have taken place against Bassitt. They believe they are close to figuring out their problems but, during a stretch such as this one, they know that isn't enough.
"I mean, you're always close, you know?" Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "But we gotta get it done."
Offense absent against top teams
A variety of troubling trends have emerged for the Brewers in the last two weeks but perhaps none more concerning than how the team's offense looks against good competition.
What is even more concerning for Milwaukee is that it was already an area of weakness before it began this current 2-11 skid; it has now turned into a very significant problem.
Entering play Tuesday, the Brewers were last in the National League with a .591 OPS against teams with a winning percentage. They were third in all of baseball with 80 homers coming in, but only 19 of those have come in 29 games against winning teams.
“I mean, we've got to do better. There isn't any question about that,” Counsell said. “We've got to do a little better. Obviously, getting shut out, that's never going to work, but I think I think we can be better. I think we will be better.”
Before a mild breakout in Washington against the lowly Nationals, the Brewers scored five runs over three games against the Philadelphia Phillies and nine over four games against the San Diego Padres.
In June, the Brewers have scored 32 runs in 12 games.
Suter regaining his form
The 2022 season has been something of an uncharacteristic struggle for reliever Brent Suter, but the lefthander delivered arguably his best outing of the season in relief of Adrian Houser.
Suter retired all four batters he faced on just 12 pitches with one strikeout to lower his season earned run average to 4.81. It's just the fifth time in 20 outings that, after exiting the game, Suter has had an ERA below 5.00.
“Brent has strung together some good outings,” Counsell said. “With our injuries, we need it. It's encouraging to see. I think he threw the ball great tonight, made quality pitches to all kinds of hitters.”
Suter has most often pitched in an inning-eating role of late – nine of his last 11 appearances have come in losses – but when he is at his best the Brewers can use him in a variety of ways, including as a multi-inning bridge arm to get to the late innings.
Weak contact, lack of execution hurt Houser
No play over the last two weeks better summarizes the funk the Brewers are in than Jeff McNeil's batted ball struck light as a feather that wound up as a double off Houser in the first inning.
On a 3-0 count, McNeil drove a sinker from Houser directly into the ground in front of home plate, bouncing it high in the air and toward the Brewers righthander. Houser stuck his glove up to field the ball and keep base runner Starling Marte at third base while recording the second out.
Instead, the ball deflected off Houser's glove and past second baseman Luis Urias, who was playing in with a man at third, and it slowly trickled into shallow right field.
Marte scored, Pete Alonso moved up to third and McNeil wound up with an excuse-me double.
Instead of leaving the inning with a 1-0 deficit, the Brewers were down 3-0 heading into the second.
“Definitely frustrating,” Houser said. “They should have gotten the one run. I gotta make that play for sure. It's definitely an error on my part. You gotta make that play. I feel like I get out of that with one run (if I do).”