Sometimes the stupidest things can change the momentum of a team.
In the eighth inning tonight, a Brewers offense that was grasping at straws all night managed to score two runs on four batted balls that had an average exit velocity of 63 mph and they were gone. set distance of 23 feet in the air. Baseball is a stupid game.
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Those two runs, plus a big day for Brewers starter Chad Patrick and a beleaguered Milwaukee bullpen (which pivoted to a likely new closer), were enough to finally end Milwaukee’s dismal six-game losing streak.
Although no one would have predicted it at the time, Toronto almost won the game in the top of the first inning. After Marshfield native Daulton Varsho drew a one-out walk, he moved to third on a single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jesús Sánchez. The score was 1-0 at the beginning of the first, but that result almost remained throughout the game.
Milwaukee’s offense is lacking a lot of punch right now, and Toronto starter Dylan Cease, the newly named $210 million man, smelled blood. Cease, who came in with a 2.45 ERA and an absurd 26 strikeouts in less than 15 innings, was on his game. William Contreras had a line drive single in the bottom of the first, but Milwaukee didn’t have another hit until the fifth inning (a Joey Ortiz single), and they got a runner past first base only once during Cease’s entire six-inning outing, when Ortiz stole second and moved to third on a groundout, but was stranded there.
Patrick, however, was up for the challenge after the initial setback. He’s had a bit of a strange season: walks are up, strikeouts are down, he’s not allowing runs, but things have been pretty shaky. Patrick came in with a 4.29 FIP and a 0.73 ERA, which is almost funny. He still couldn’t find his strikeout material tonight, and that remains a concern, but Patrick was inducing weak contact everywhere, took advantage of the good defensive players behind him, and worked with surprising efficiency.
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After Toronto’s first inning run, they did very little to threaten Patrick again. A leadoff single in the third inning was erased one batter later by a double play. Lenyn Sosa singled with two outs in the fifth (just after Brandon Lockridge made a fantastic leaping catch on a foul ball), but did not advance. The only time the Blue Jays made a bit of a comeback was in the seventh: Kazuma Okamoto walked with one out, but Patrick got the second out before giving way to DL Hall. Andrés Giménez singled to make it two with two out, but Hall retired Sosa on a fly ball to end the inning.
In total, Patrick needed just 81 pitches to complete 6 2/3 innings; He was the first Brewers starter this season to record an out in the seventh inning. He struck out only two batters, but allowed only three hits (all singles) and two walks.
It was in the eighth when the Brewers, down 1-0 and looking helpless at the plate, made their move. The stoppage was called after six, so Milwaukee had cleared that hurdle, and the pitcher in the eighth was submariner Tyler Rogers, who entered with a 0.00 ERA in 8 2/3 innings this season. The Brewers won’t win any style awards for what came next, but they needed something to go their way, and something finally did. This is how it went:
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David Hamilton hit an infield single with a bunt. 48 mph muzzle velocity, 2 feet, -79 degree launch angle.
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Sal Frelick hit a high helicopter directly in front of home plate that simply died. It was 0 feet, depending on game day, with a launch angle of -76 degrees. Exit velocity here was 61.3 mph. Catcher Brandon Valenzuela waited to see if a foul came out, then tried to pick it up to get Frelick out, but he mishandled it; It was ruled as E2.
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William Contreras singled into the right side of the infield, which was quite open for him due to a defensive change. A classic piece of slapstick: this one had a distance of 17 feet and a launch angle of -7 degrees, with an exit velocity of 92.3 mph. Hamilton scored and Frelick advanced to third.
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Brice Turang hit a soft grounder just behind Rogers that allowed Frelick to score from third. Turang was out at first, and his RBI ground ball was 3 feet, with a launch angle of -57 degrees, and came off the bat at 53.3 mph.
Here are the highlights from that sequence:
Of course, given Milwaukee’s troubles lately finishing games, no one felt comfortable heading into the ninth with a 2-1 lead. Nobody except maybe Abner Uribe, the baseball man. Looking good and hitting 99 on the radar, Uribe got Okamoto to ground out and struck out Ernie Clement. With two outs, Giménez hit a pretty hard ball into the left field hole but the speedy Lockridge moved and caught it without too much trouble. The losing streak was over. Uribe, at a time when the team desperately needed someone to come forward in a saving situation, came forward.
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There was nothing pretty about Milwaukee’s offense today, but the pitching staff showed up big time and the Brewers managed to turn a game that seemed headed toward a crushing 1-0 loss into a feel-good comeback win. There were no extra-base hits by the Brewers and only Contreras reached base more than once, but they did what they had to do tonight. On the mound, Patrick had his good outing and was followed by scoreless appearances from Hall, Aaron Ashby (who allowed a hit and a walk in his inning but struck out the side) and Uribe, who struck out one and did not allow a hit.
Despite all the (justified) pessimism after Monday’s game, the Brewers can now win this series and build real momentum with a win tomorrow afternoon. That game will be at 12:40 p.m. and will see two players at opposite ends of their careers face off: veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin for Toronto, and Brandon Sproat, returning to the rotation, for the Brewers.