Bullpen puts in heroic effort after Miley’s second-inning exit
ST. LOUIS - Joey Wiemer was in good spirits in the visiting clubhouse at Busch Stadium about half an hour after closer Devin Williams had gotten St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong to roll over on a changeup in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 3-2 win.
Had the result of that at-bat been different, the mood for Wiemer and the Milwaukee Brewers would have been much more downtrodden.
“Dev with the would-be-five-outbut-it-was-six-out save because the centerfielder forgot how to catch a fly ball,” Wiemer cracked after the game.
That fly ball came off the bat of Willson Contreras toward Wiemer in the bottom of the ninth and would have ended the game. But the screamer knuckled on Wiemer and darted to the left and across his body as it approached him in center field. With a last-second adjustment, Wiemer thought he was still going to be able to make the catch.
“Even at the end, I was like, ‘Oh it’s still right here,’” Wiemer said. “Then I was like, ‘Oh my God that ball is diving.’”
It dove past Wiemer’s outstretched glove and rolled to the wall for a double to bring the winning run to the plate. But Williams, with the winning run on base by that point, got DeJong to ground out. All was well that ended well. “It’s the ‘Men In Black’ pen,” Wiemer said.
Here are three takeaways from a game the Brewers, though, will not want to forget.
Middle relievers set table for dazzling finish
When Brewers head athletic trainer Scott Barringer and manager Craig Counsell walked out to the mound to check on starter Wade Miley two outs into the second inning, the Brewers bullpen turned into a chicken coop of players finding space to get loose and stretch as quickly as possible.
And when Miley walked off the mound to exit the game after a visit of about 45 seconds, the challenge was on.
“When the starter goes down, you just break your routine and get ready,” said Joel Payamps, who picked up the win after throwing 12⁄3 scoreless. “You make everything fast. You know you have to be ready earlier, so it might be different. But those things are part of it. You know they might happen so you just try to get ready so as soon as they call your name you’re ready to get some outs.”
The Brewers bullpen pulled off one of the most impressive things a group of relievers can do in a single game. A group of five pitchers held the Cardinals to one run and recorded 22 outs by all going multiple innings, dodging bullet after bullet in high-stress innings against a very good lineup.
“They were incredible, they really were,” Counsell said. “Losing your starter five outs into the game and the job that all of them did and doing some different things tonight and all pitching multiple innings was really, really impressive.”
First it was Elvis Peguero coming on in arguably the most challenging role: being rushed onto the field with no prior warning in just the second inning. He dodged a pair of one-out walks in the third inning to get four scoreless outs.
Hoby Milner also got four outs, working through the fourth and into the fifth, giving up one run on a two-out single from Brendan Donovan.
From there, thanks in part to solo homers by Joey Wiemer and Brian Anderson in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, the Brewers had their top three late-game arms lined up. The only tricky part was they needed 14 outs from the three of them.
Payamps’ critical moment came in the sixth. Nolan Gorman and Edman laced one-out singles – the latter of which was a potential double play ball that popped out of Payamps’ glove – but righty got Donovan to fly out to center and struck out Andrew Knizner with a nasty slider to escape the inning.
“It definitely probably should have been a ball I should have let through, but your adrenaline is going and you’re just reacting to it,” Payamps said. “Thankfully, after that I calmed myself down and everything worked out our way. I was able to get the next two outs.”
Williams gets first five-out save of career
No Brewers pitcher had recorded a save of more than four outs in a game within three or fewer runs since Drew Pomeranz in 2019.
Going multiple innings isn’t something Williams has been asked to do much. He’s done it three times since the start of the 2021 season, all coming last September. But when the moment calls for it, Williams has no problem doing it.
“I was ready for the challenge,” Williams said.
He sure was.
Williams entered with the tying run on third and go-ahead run on first after a one-out single by Tommy Edman against Peter Strzelecki. He needed a strikeout and the contact-happy Donovan was at the plate.
Catcher William Contreras helped steal a couple of called strikes to open the plate appearance. Sensing Donovan might be awaiting a changeup, Williams peppered him with a fourth straight fastball, this one his third-fastest of the year at 95.8 mph – for a called strike three. After Edman stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position, Williams got Alec Burleson to ground out weakly back to the mound.
Then came the part Williams doesn’t do too much of: sit in the dugout before having to go back out.
“Nothing in particular,” Williams said of his approach to the in-between period. “Sit on the bench and re-gather my thoughts and get ready for the next three that are about to come up and lay out a game plan of how I’m going to attack those guys.”
Williams retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, including a swinging strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt thanks to excellent sequencing that finished with a nasty changeup, but had to regroup his thoughts when Wiemer misplayed Contreras’ liner.
“I’m used to Joey catching everything, so it was a little surprising,” Williams said. “But I can’t be mad at him. That guy has saved runs for us all year, and aside from that, it was a terrible pitch. So I kind of deserved that one.”
Without saying a word, Williams and Counsell were on the same page about the next hitter, Nolan Arenado. Williams threw Arenado two balls out of the zone seeing if he would chase. When he didn’t Counsell decided to put him on intentionally and bring up Paul DeJong.
“Devin’s very good at knowing what he wants to do to a hitter and the first two pitches told me that he’s going to make him swing at a ball,” Counsell said. “In my eyes, why make him throw more pitches at that point once it gets 2-0?”
Why flirt with Arenado when you can go after a lesser hitter, too?
The plan came to fruition when DeJong bounced out to third base, and the Brewers had maybe their best win of the season.
Who knows how big this win will loom come September.
“I think anytime we play them it’s a playoff atmosphere,” Williams said. “I think we’re the two best teams in our division, if you ask me. And we always play each other tough. You know coming in here, that’s what it’s going to be.”
Miley will head to injured list
The Brewers were already down two of their top six starters coming into the day. Now, make it three.
Miley left his start in the bottom of the second inning with a left lat strain after recording five outs. He gave up a leadoff home run to Nolan Arenado then retired the next two hitters before he received a visit on the mound from head athletic trainer Scott Barringer and Counsell.
Miley dealt with a left shoulder strain last season with the Cubs and landed on the injured list as a result of it. Injuries have been a challenge on the whole for Miley, who has made only 96 starts since 2018 – a total that includes a 33-start year in 2019 with Houston.
He will head back to Milwaukee on Wednesday to get an MRI and will be placed on the injured list.
“This is the most frustrating part,” Miley said. “I made a lot of changes this off-season and through spring training. I’ve kind of taken a step forward in taking care of myself a little bit and the training staff ’s been awesome in keeping me healthy. My shoulder’s been a non-issue since spring training. My elbow’s been the thing that’s bothering me more than anything. For this to pop up, it’s baseball. We go through injuries. Just gotta get through it and hopefully not too long and get back out there.”
With Miley headed to the injured list, the Brewers will once again be in scramble mode in the rotation. Eric Lauer will now likely make his return to starting this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida against the Tampa Bay Rays , and they will also need to call up a fifth starter, such as Colin Rea, unless they intend to use Bryse Wilson in that role – which seems unlikely.