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Missed chances cost Brewers
MILWAUKEE — As important as it is to get runners on base, it does you no good when you can’t deliver clutch hits to bring them around to score. Just ask the Brewers.
As the Giants completed the four-game sweep with a 9-3 victory on Thursday, the Brewers went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position while leaving 17 on base. In the series, the Brewers went 3-for-42 with RISP and left 46 on base.
“Our hitting with guys in scoring position in this particular series did us in,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “Three for 42, that’s not going to win you many ballgames, particularly when you get behind early.”
Whereas the Brewers struggled to bring runners home, the Giants piled on five runs in the third and fourth innings on just three hits and two Milwaukee errors. In the eighth and ninth innings, the Giants tacked on a few more, two of which came on leadoff homers.
For the second straight game, the Brewers got a poor performance from their starting pitcher, as lefty Manny Parra surrendered six runs (four earned) on 10 hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts.
Parra (3-6) put the Brewers in an early hole in the first inning with a balk, which forced a replay of what would have been a lineout to center field by Aubrey Huff. After stepping back in the batter’s box, Huff lined a single to right field, driving home Andres Torres from third.
When asked if the umpire made the correct call on the balk, Parra took the high road.
“It’s a judgment call,” said Parra. “It’s not for any of us to really [decide]. It’s his call.”
Parra escaped with a scoreless second inning despite back-to-back one-out singles, but was roughed up again in the third, when Huff returned to the plate. With one on and none out, Huff belted an 0-2 splitter deep to right for his second home run of the series and 17th of the season.
“Really, the worst pitches I paid for were against Huff,” Parra said. “He had four RBIs against me and hurt me a little bit. But other than that, they were on fire. They were hitting even executed pitches and finding a way to get on base.”
For the Brewers, missed opportunities were the most obvious problem.
In the second, fifth and sixth innings, the Brewers stranded the bases loaded. After three straight two-out walks in the fifth, rookie shortstop Alcides Escobar struck out swinging.
An inning later, the Brewers got a pair of strikeouts by George Kottaras and Joe Inglett sandwiched around an RBI walk drawn by Carlos Gomez. After Inglett struck out looking, pinch-hitter Ryan Braun grounded out to second to end the threat.
With 17 runners left on base during the game Thursday, the Brewers set a new season high. It was the fourth time in club history in which the Brewers had 17 or more left on base in a nine-inning game.
The club record is 21 left on base, which has occurred three times, all in extra-inning games.
For a nine-inning affair, the Brewers record is 19 in a 7-6 win over Minnesota on May 16, 1986, one shy of the Major League record of 20, set by the New York Yankees in 1956.
With just three runs scored despite 20 baserunners on Thursday, the Brewers were swept for the first time by the Giants and dropped their fifth straight overall. Outscoring the Brewers, 36-7, in the series, the Giants bounced back after losing 10 of their previous 12.
“We played our best ball in this series,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Coming off a tough series, too, it was great to see how we came out and played.”
With the loss, the Brewers’ home record fell to 17-26. At a .395 home winning percentage, Milwaukee is just barely ahead of Baltimore (.390) for the worst home record in the Majors.
After opening a stretch of 16 out of 20 games at home with four straight wins, the Brewers have gone just 2-7 at Miller Park since. With such poor all-around play — hitting, pitching and defense — over the past five games, a number of questions surround the Crew.
Along with the question of Macha’s job security, the most prominent of those questions is whether the Brewers will soon become sellers heading toward the July 31 Trade Deadline.
While it’s certainly hard to ignore the potential departure of teammates, McGehee hopes it’s not on the minds of any of them.
“If it is, you need to get out of here,” McGehee said. “If you ain’t worried about what you’re doing here, then you shouldn’t be.
“I’m not by any means saying anybody is doing it, but I’m saying if that’s your mindset and you decide to turn on and off depending on who may or may not be here tomorrow, you shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Weeks finding ways to get on base
MILWAUKEE — Rickie Weeks may not be your prototypical leadoff hitter, but at least one statistic shows that he’s doing what a leadoff hitter should do, and that’s getting on base.
Weeks entered Wednesday hitting .270 on the season and had an on-base percentage of .369, nearly 70 points behind Justin Morneau, who leads the Majors. But Weeks was only four behind Morneau in total times on base, another category led by the Twins first baseman.
Out of a Major League-leading 391 plate appearances, Weeks had been on base 144 times, compared to 148 times for Morneau and Albert Pujols and 145 times for Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder.
Even more impressive is the fact that Weeks has done it without the benefit of the walks drawn by the three sluggers. Pujols led the league with 56, while Fielder was three behind him at 53 and Morneau was seventh with 49.
Weeks has just 39 walks, though his 15 times hit by pitch lead the Majors.
“He’s a unique leadoff hitter,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “He’s got the leadoff home runs, and he still gets on base.”
Weeks, along with right fielder Corey Hart, provide as much power out of the top two spots in the lineup as you’ll find in the Majors.
With 14 home runs and 50 RBIs, Weeks leads the Majors in both categories among leadoff hitters. Hart, who was named Sunday to his second All-Star Game, leads the Majors in home runs (16) and RBIs (49) since May 15.
“I don’t know if we would be 1-2 in most lineups, but we are in this lineup,” Hart said last month following a game in which he and Weeks combined to go 6-for-9 with two runs and three RBIs. “We try to get on base for the guys behind us. It’s nice to drive in runs as well, but I think our goal is to get on as much as we can for Prince and [Ryan Braun].”
Injured Gallardo won’t pitch in All-Star Game
MILWAUKEE — Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo will not pitch in the All-Star Game next week in Anaheim, manager Ken Macha said Monday.
After being named to the National League All-Star squad earlier in the day, Gallardo left Sunday’s game in the bottom of the third inning with a strained left oblique muscle.
Gallardo was still holding out hope of a quick return before a Monday visit with the team doctor, but Macha inserted a dose of reality. Macha said Gallardo would probably not make another first-half start and would definitely not pitch in next week’s All-Star Game.
“Throwing in the All-Star Game? No,” Macha said. “I’m saying that, best-case scenario, he’s probably going to be doing no baseball activities for at least 10 days. … He’s not going to pitch in the All-Star Game. You can’t have a guy walk off the mound one week and then put him in [All-Star] Game the next. No.”
The Brewers summoned outfielder Lorenzo Cain from Triple-A Nashville, and he was making his way to Milwaukee on Monday morning. According to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, the idea behind bringing Cain to Milwaukee sooner rather than later was to avoid any potential logistical issues if Gallardo were to go on the 15-day disabled list.
Gallardo was evaluated by team physician William Raasch on Monday afternoon, and the strained left oblique muscle was confirmed. Officially, the team has listed Gallardo as day-to-day and the Brewers determined they would not make a roster move Monday.
If the doctors had determined that Gallardo would have to go to the DL, then the team would have activated Cain.
In that scenario, Gallardo would be eligible to return from the DL beginning July 20 and would miss a minimum of two starts.
“That’s the tough thing, whether to put him on the DL or not,” Melvin said. “If you don’t put him on the DL and you use the days, he could be ready the day after the All-Star break. But if you don’t pitch him this week, you’ve got seven days and you’ve got [three] days at the break, that’s [10] days.
Gallardo said he was feeling better Monday morning, though he described the oblique as still feeling tight. He described it Monday as feeling initially like a “cramping” sensation just before he exited the game Sunday.
Even if he’s unable to pitch, Gallardo said he planned to make the trip to Anaheim for All-Star festivities.
“He’s feeling decent, but this is something that’s [to be taken seriously],” Macha said. “I had Tim Hudson and he would get them every once in a while, and it’s a long process coming back if there is a tear in there.
“So [the doctors] have to figure out what’s going on in there [with Gallardo].”
Though he is sidelined by injury and may be forced to watch from the dugout, Gallardo remained enthusiastic about his first All-Star Game.
“I’m still excited about it,” Gallardo said. “It’s one of those things that we all look forward to. Hopefully I’m available, but we’ll see.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
No fun in the sun again for the Brewers
MILWAUKEE — Blame it on the shadows. Or the mistakes on the basepaths.
Whatever it was, the Brewers had another poor showing on Wednesday in a day game at Miller Park, which is starting to become a trend.
Offensive struggles in home day games continued for the Brewers, as Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez quieted Milwaukee, which lost, 5-1, to drop its first series of the homestand.
“We had just a couple chances to score,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “And we didn’t get it done. We had first and second, one out in the third inning, then we had a leadoff double in the sixth down by one and wound up having two outs on the bases there.”
Part of the problem offensively for Milwaukee was those outs on the basepaths. In the second, McGehee was caught off third on a grounder to third baseman Chris Johnson. As he returned, he tried to step over Johnson, but was called out.
Four innings later, McGehee doubled to lead off the sixth. Rookie catcher Jonathan Lucroy followed by bouncing one to Rodriguez, who faked to first before getting McGehee at third. During the next at-bat, Lucroy compounded the problem, as he was caught stealing second.
As strong as the Brewers have been overall offensively this season, they have struggled to hit well at home during day games. Through 15 home day games, the Brewers have just a .236 (123-for-521) team batting average, with just 52 runs scored and 15 home runs.
The offense looked good early in the second and third, but the Brewers only scored the one run in the second, combining to leave four runners on base in the two innings. Over the final six innings, the Crew was unable to put much together.
Rodriguez (5-10) tossed seven strong innings, giving up just one run on seven hits as he walked one and recorded six strikeouts.
“I thought his curveball was real good,” Macha said of Rodriguez. “When he got some guys on he went to that curveball, Rodriguez did, and it was very good.”
The Astros’ lefty outdueled Brewers starter Dave Bush, who went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while walking five with three strikeouts.
Just as the Brewers have struggled at Miller Park during the day, the Astros knew coming in what kind of effect the shadows could have in the late innings of afternoon contests. With that in mind, they were happy to plate a pair against Bush.
“Playing in this ballpark, and when the shadows creep in, it was kind of nice to get those hits early in the game,” Astros shortstop Geoff Blum said. “You’ve got to be patient with Bush. He’s got four quality pitches, and fortunately for myself, he left a couple up and I was able to find some holes.”
Blum went 2-for-3 on the day with three runs scored, a double and two walks. In the fourth, Blum’s double sparked a two-hit, two-walk inning for the Astros that led to Houston tying the game at 1 on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Blum’s leadoff walk resulted in the eventual winning run, which he scored on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Rodriguez.
Despite his third straight quality start, Bush (3-6) took the loss.
“It’s a disappointing game to lose,” Bush said. “But Rodriguez pitched really well. And he pitched a little bit better than I did. So good job for him, and he earned it for sure.”
It was reliever Carlos Villanueva, though, who let the Astros take control of the ballgame. Villanueva surrendered three runs on three hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
After taking the lead in the sixth, the Astros plated three runs in the seventh on three doubles off Villanueva.
“My job there is to keep the game the same way it is when I come in,” Villanueva said. “They hit my mistakes. I thought I made a couple [of] good pitches, but when I needed an out pitch there, I left the ball up and they put pretty good swings on them.”
With the loss, the Brewers finished 3-3 over the final six games of the homestand after sweeping the first-place Minnesota Twins to open the nine-game stretch at Miller Park.
While the end result, a 6-3 homestand, was good for the Brewers, the way they got there — especially in losing two of three to the fifth-place Astros — was not.
“We’ve got to go to St. Louis, and we’re going to have to play a little better than this [losing] two out of the three here,” Macha said. “Six and three on the homestand. [You] just look at it and say, before the homestand, you’d have taken that. But after the start we had, it’s a little disappointing.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Brewers beat 6/30
Fielder puts slow start behind him
MILWAUKEE — Prince Fielder has quickly made his slow start a thing of the past.
Fielder is just trying to do what works best for him, and it’s working pretty well right now. On the Brewers’ current homestand, Fielder has four home runs and eight RBIs, increasing his season totals to 17 homers and 35 RBIs.
With his recent power barrage, including a pair of long balls Tuesday night, Fielder leads the Majors with 10 home runs in the month of June. The key, according to Fielder, is just doing what he’s always done.
“I’m just trying to swing like I swing,” Fielder said. “I’ve never been a guy to swing easy. When you’re not getting results people want you to do different things.
“The only thing I’ve been trying to do different is swing the way I swing. I’ve never been a guy that hits singles to left field. That just happens.”
Fielder remains fifth on the team in RBIs with 35, but it has more to do with timing than with Fielder’s production. While he has 10 homers this month, he also has just 16 RBIs.
Including a two-run shot in the third inning on Tuesday, only four of Fielder’s 17 home runs this season have come with runners on base. None of them has been with more than one runner on base.
By comparison, out of Fielder’s 46 home runs in 2009, nearly half (24) came with runners on base, including nine with two or more runners on base.
Still, with Fielder hitting home runs, the Brewers’ offense, which leads the National League in home runs, total bases and extra-base hits entering Wednesday’s game, is only going to get better.
“His RBI total has gone up, too,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “However he wants to knock them in — solo homers, base hits — it’s OK with me.”
Milwaukee pitchers providing some offense
MILWAUKEE — Facing the Brewers, the No. 9 spot in the batting order is hardly an easy out. Yovani Gallardo reaffirmed that on Tuesday night, going 1-for-1 with a solo homer and a walk.
With a .219 batting average, Brewers pitchers lead the National League. Milwaukee’s pitching staff is tied for first with 33 hits and 14 runs. Brewers pitchers also rank first in home runs (3), RBIs (14), doubles (8), on-base percentage (.261), slugging percentage (.331), and OPS (.592).
Along with their success, the Brewers staff has even coined a phrase to describe it.
“These guys have got a quote in here in the dugout,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “They say, ‘Pitchers rake.'”
While the hurlers’ ability to swing that bat has come in handy quite a bit of late, Macha would like to see them improve on another aspect of the game at the plate: bunting.
The Brewers rank last in the NL with just eight sacrifice bunts, while they have more than four times as many hits.
“We’ve been working on our bunting,” Macha said. “We’ve got more hits than we do sacrifice bunts. So we’ve been putting some time in on the bunting, because eventually we’re going to need to move [a runner] up.”
Still, on the current homestand, Brewers pitchers have been even better at the plate than their season average of .219. More than double that even.
With eight hits in 18 at-bats, the pitching staff had posted a .444 batting average entering Wednesday’s final game of the homestand. Along with that .444 mark, the Brewers have gotten two RBIs, five runs, a walk and a home run out of the pitcher’s spot.
Each of the Brewers’ five starters — Gallardo, Randy Wolf, Dave Bush, Chris Narveson and Manny Parra — has contributed at least one hit, while all of them except Bush have either scored a run, driven in a run, or both.
“We have some pretty good [hitting] pitchers,” Gallardo said. “We have a lot of fun up their hitting. [Wolf], [Bush], Narveson and Manny, we take it serious. For certain situations, you can only help yourself out. I think that’s what we try to do.
“We joke around out there when we hit BP, but you never know when it’s going to come in handy.”
Offense struggles with shadows at home
MILWAUKEE — The shadows aren’t going anywhere, deal with it.
That quote, from Rickie Weeks in 2009 about the shadows during Miller Park day games, was recalled by manager Ken Macha on Wednesday when asked about the effect they’ve had on the Brewers’ offense.
Even so, the Brewers have not hit well during the day at home.
In 14 home day games, the Brewers have just a .238 team batting average, with just 51 runs scored and 15 home runs.
“Get it out of your mind and go up there and bear down the best you can,” Macha suggested before Wednesday’s game. “I hate the saying, but it is what it is. The other teams play in the same thing.
“Does it make it tougher? Yes, it does. But there are shadows in Anaheim, there are shadows in Boston, almost every stadium’s got the shadows.”
On the season, the Brewers have been nearly 30 points better overall than in home day games, with a .267 batting average. With 96 home runs in 77 games, the Brewers average 1.24 homers per game.
That rate goes up slightly at night, as they hit 1.29 per game. During the day, however, it dips to just 1.07 homers per game.
Some hitters, however, perform even better during home day games. Weeks and Casey McGehee are hitting .320 and .308, respectively, during home game days. Even more impressive is Carlos Gomez at home during the day, with a .303 average, compared to just .239 overall this season.
Most affected by the shadows seems to be left fielder Ryan Braun. In 53 at-bats during home day games, Braun has just eight hits, good for a .151 batting average.
Braun entered Wednesday having not hit a home run at home during the day, while collecting just three doubles for a .208 slugging percentage. With a .207 on-base percentage — boosted by three walks — Braun has just a .415 OPS in home day games.
Of all hitters with at least 25 at-bats in home day games, Braun’s average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS rank last.
With that in mind, day games at Miller Park may seem like a good time for a rare day off for the Brewers’ left fielder. For Macha and the Brewers, however, the current roster situation and recent pitching matchups have not allowed for such a move.
“At a later date I might give him a day off when we have a day game,” Macha said. “Today, we’ve got a lefty going. The last day game, they had a lefty going.
“My roster is what it is, too.”
Davis has successful rehab outing
MILWAUKEE — He was not as dominant as in his last rehab start, but Doug Davis was effective on Wednesday as he took the mound for Class A Wisconsin in Appleton.
Davis tossed seven strong innings, surrendering just one run on six hits. He hit a batter, walked three and recorded four strikeouts. The lefty tossed 96 pitches — four shy of his targeted total of 100 — with 63 going for strikes.
Following the start — Davis’ last rehab outing — he will meet the Brewers in St. Louis. Davis is expected to pitch again during the Brewers’ four-game home series with the Giants next week. On normal rest, his next start would coincide with that of right-hander Dave Bush.
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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