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Clutch hits give Crew enough to get by Cubs
CHICAGO — A change in approach may have led to the reversal of fortunes for the Brewers over the first two games this week against the Cubs.
“Base hits up the middle,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “I think all the base hits were up the middle that we scored the four runs.
“It’s been nice the last couple nights.”
They didn’t have as many hits to show for it as the previous night, but the Brewers continued to swing hot bats in Tuesday’s 4-3 win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field which clinched the series victory.
Most importantly, the Crew delivered with runners in scoring position, going 3-for-7 in such situations. Milwaukee’s fourth and fifth hitters, Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee, combined to go 3-for-6 with three RBIs.
The biggest hit of the night, though, belonged to the Brewers’ starting pitcher.
With his hit in the fourth, lefty Chris Narveson put the Brewers up, 3-1, as he delivered a one-out single to center field that scored catcher Jonathan Lucroy from second base.
“That was huge,” Narveson said. “Helping yourself at the plate has always been a big competition here with the pitchers, and it’s proven helpful lately.”
Narveson (9-7) wasn’t as sharp as he might have liked, but like the Brewers’ offense, he came up big in big situations. The lefty went 5 2/3 innings, limiting the Cubs to just one run on six hits while walking one and recording six strikeouts.
Rather than score their runs in bunches as they did Monday with five runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, the Brewers strung together hits to score one run in the first, third, fourth and seventh innings.
“We kind of scrapped for our runs tonight,” Macha said.
During the Brewers’ previous series in Houston, Macha expressed concern about the team’s hitting approach in back-to-back shutout losses. That prompted him to discuss the matter with hitting coach Dale Sveum.
Based on the early results, Milwaukee’s change in approach seems to have worked. Still, Sveum downplayed the idea of an up-the-middle-specific focus.
“It’s not that big a deal. You guys make way too much out of that,” he told a reporter. “It’s just taking what the pitcher gives you.”
McGehee agreed with Sveum, while noting the much-improved results of late.
“It’s not like we sat down and all decided, ‘We’re going to stay in the middle of the field,'” McGehee said. “But Dale and I talked in the cage about what pitches we’ve been swinging at. It’s something that I’ve been trying to take up to the plate with me, but I don’t know what the other guys have been thinking.
“I think we’ve had a really good approach against [the Cubs] so far this series. For whatever reason, we have been hitting balls the other way pretty consistently.”
While four runs on nine hits doesn’t exactly compare to the 18 runs on 26 hits Milwaukee posted Monday, the Brewers scored at least four runs in consecutive games for the first time since doing so in three straight in a sweep of the Nationals from July 23-25.
For the second straight night, Ryan Braun, Fielder and McGehee came up big for the Crew.
“Those guys are all great hitters,” said Cubs starter Thomas Diamond. “I’m not going to take anything away from those guys. They’re all big league hitters, they’ve got All-Stars. To me, a hitter is a hitter, and all the accolades they get, they deserve and I just need to find a way to get them out.”
In the first, Fielder and McGehee delivered back-to-back two-out singles, with McGehee’s scoring Braun and putting the Brewers on top early. Two innings later, Fielder’s one-out single scored Rickie Weeks from second, making it 2-1 in the Brewers’ favor.
Finally, in the seventh, McGehee drove a liner to center for a sacrifice fly, scoring Weeks from third for the eventual game-winning run. Had it not been for a spectacular catch by All-Star center fielder Marlon Byrd, McGehee may have broken the game open with a one-out, bases-loaded hit.
“[Byrd] goes and gets it just as well as anybody,” McGehee said. “He’s like a free safety out there. You have to work to get one away from him.”
Though the Brewers came out on top, Diamond was impressive.
Despite giving up seven hits in six innings, he struck out 10 batters, becoming the first Cubs pitcher to do so in his Major League debut since Mark Prior on May 22, 2002. Diamond (0-1) struck out three in the first — while also giving up a run on two hits and a walk — and added at least one strikeout in every inning but the fifth.
“I think he’s got a chance to be pretty good,” McGehee said. “He’s deceptive, he’s got a good split or changeup or whatever he wants to call it. He threw enough strikes to make you want to be aggressive, but he also was effectively wild at times.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
McGehee finds power stroke in sweep
MILWAUKEE — Batting practice was optional on Sunday. But that didn’t stop Casey McGehee from getting out there and putting some work in with hitting coach Dale Sveum.
McGehee, who entered Sunday having hit just .234 with four home runs and 14 RBIs since June 1, was the only Brewers hitter to take batting practice on the field before the game.
Maybe his teammates should let him hit alone more often.
With a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, McGehee put an exclamation point on the Brewers’ 8-3 victory, helping the team record a sweep over the Nationals.
“It was just me and Dale, we were just talking last night and had some ideas of some stuff that we might want to try, just to get a little better feel,” McGehee said. “Who knows if that had anything to do with it, but I’m just trying to get back to feeling like myself at the plate.”
For McGehee, the blast capped a 2-for-3 day that included a crucial first-inning walk, a double in the fifth, three RBIs and a run scored.
Along with McGehee, second baseman Rickie Weeks helped power the Brewers past the Nationals, belting a two-run homer deep to left in the fourth, which made it 5-0 in the Brewers’ favor.
Weeks’ 20th blast of the season extended the Brewers’ streak to 14 consecutive games with a homer. McGehee’s blast was his 14th this year and his first since July 1 in St. Louis.
“When your pitching is holding you in the games, and one swing of the bat with McGehee or Rickie or Prince [Fielder] or [Ryan Braun] can get you several runs,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha, “you feel like you have a chance to win every game.”
The Brewers got an excellent pitching performance from right-hander Dave Bush and were able to limit the damage of their two errors while taking advantage of two defensive miscues by the Nationals.
Thanks to errors in the first and fourth innings, Nationals starter Ross Detwiler was tagged for five runs on just three hits over 3 2/3 innings. Fortunately for Detwiler, his ERA went unharmed, as all five runs were unearned.
For the Brewers, taking advantage of an opponent’s errors made for a much different story than when the Crew was hurt by errors earlier this month in three losses to the Cardinals and Giants.
“We’ve been on the other side of that, and that’s what happens,” Macha said. “Look what happened in the game in St. Louis and back-to-back games here against San Francisco.
“We had an error and they capitalized and got a bunch of unearned runs. It happens to all the teams.”
Afterward, Nationals manager Jim Riggleman was not happy with his team’s defense.
“We did not have a good day defensively today,” Riggleman said. “Going into the series before the All-Star break and up to the current time, we played better defense. But we certainly didn’t get it done today.”
Bush (5-8) tossed six-plus strong innings, giving up just two earned runs on six hits. More importantly, though, Bush recorded seven strikeouts against zero walks.
Through the first five innings, Bush cruised, retiring 15 of 17 batters faced with just one hit. The key for Bush was his changeup, which he used more often than usual.
“[Jonathan Lucroy] called a couple in the first inning and I got a couple swings and misses on it. I had a decent feel for it today,” Bush said. “It’s typically my fourth pitch. It’s not something I’m going to necessarily use a whole lot, unless I feel like I can put it where I want to and get some outs out of it.
“Today, I felt like I could do that here and there. Lucroy figured that out, too and went to it more than usual.”
Bush ran into trouble in the sixth, leaving curveballs up to the first two hitters. It resulted in a pair of runs coming across on a Josh Willingham sacrifice fly and a single by Adam Dunn. Thanks to a nice defensive play by center fielder Carlos Gomez, though, Bush escaped the inning with the lead intact, stranding a pair.
“I didn’t locate all that well,” Bush said of the sixth. “It was mostly a matter of getting some pitches up and having guys on base.”
With the win, the Brewers picked up their second straight home sweep and improved to 10-4 since July 9.
Milwaukee has won four straight games dating back to the series finale in Pittsburgh on Thursday and six straight at home. Next up for the Crew will be the first-place Cincinnati Reds as it looks to continue its climb back into the race on Monday.
“Any time you can sweep a team, no matter who it is, obviously it is big,” McGehee said. “We’re going to have to do some more of that if we want to make things interesting.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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.
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.
Narveson establishes tone for Brewers’ win
MILWAUKEE — As lefty Chris Narveson struck out the side in the first inning Friday, it set the tone for the rest of the night.
After avoiding his typical first-inning struggles, Narveson (5-3) had his best outing of the season, allowing just two runs on six hits over seven innings. With a strong offensive performance backing him up, the Brewers took the series opener from the Rangers, 6-2, at Miller Park.
The Rangers had entered the series having just outscored the Mariners, 31-6, in their last three games, but Narveson was impressive in shutting them down.
“It’s just knowing what type of pitcher you are,” Narveson said. “Sometimes you get out there and you have this feeling that you have to make pitches that maybe you’re not comfortable with or that aren’t the right pitch in that situation.
“So to go out there and be able to establish the game early, set a good tone, that was able to get me where I needed to be.”
Brewers manager Ken Macha said the key for Narveson was his changeup.
“He made his pitches. The ball was down for the most part all day, and the change was really good,” Macha said. “In the first inning, he used the change, and they were swinging and missing at it.
“I’ve got a friend that lives down in Texas — he watches all of their games. He called me twice saying, ‘These guys are swinging the bats well.’ And they did against Seattle. It says something about how Narvy located the ball today.”
Although strong Brewers pitching performances lately haven’t come with much offense, that was hardly the case Friday. The Brewers’ Nos. 2 through 5 hitters each belted a home run, driving in all six of the runs for the club.
Ryan Braun, batting cleanup for the fifth straight game, got the Brewers on the board in the first with a two-run blast to left-center field, his ninth of the season.
After a Casey McGehee solo homer in the fourth, Corey Hart and Prince Fielder went back-to-back in the fifth as the Brewers matched a season high with four home runs on the night.
Hart’s home run was his 17th of the season, and his 14th in his last 26 games, dating back to May 15. The Brewers’ right fielder added 29 RBIs over the same stretch.
“I’m eating a good diet,” Hart said, joking after the game. “I’m not a home run hitter, so I think I’m just getting lucky right now. I’m just trying to make contact, and fortunately for me it’s going out. I’m just trying to stay with it as long as I can.”
Brewers hitters roughed up Rangers starter Rich Harden, who gave up all six runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out four batters.
Harden (3-3) hasn’t faired too well against the Brewers over the last two seasons. In four starts since the beginning of the 2009 season, Harden has given up 20 runs — 16 earned — on 23 hits in 17 innings pitched.
His previous starts at Miller Park had been good, however, as he entered with a 1-0 mark and a 1.38 ERA in two starts here.
“They’ve seen me over the past few years, but I know them pretty good, too,” Harden said of the Brewers. “I just didn’t make good pitches. I couldn’t get the ball down on some hitters, and it cost me.”
Narveson’s most impressive inning came in the sixth, after he gave up a leadoff double to third baseman Michael Young.
Retiring the next three batters he faced, Narveson stranded Young at third, keeping the score at 6-2.
Along with good hitting, starting pitching and defense, the Brewers got another good performance from the bullpen, as Kameron Loe threw two scoreless innings to close out the ballgame. After putting it all together, the Brewers have won three of their last four.
“That’s the trick in this game is to get everything to match up at one time,” McGehee said. “Fortunately tonight, we were able to do it.”
Simple approach paying off for McGehee
MILWAUKEE — As he walks up to the plate during home games, the chorus of “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd plays on the Miller Park speakers. While he may not have planned it that way, the song perfectly exemplifies Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee.
With the way he’s performed since becoming an everyday player for the Brewers, it would be easy for McGehee to get caught up in the numbers he’s put up at the plate. Instead, he just does what he’s always done, use the entire field to produce at the plate for the Brewers.
Before and after a game, it’s easy to find McGehee: he’s nearly always at his locker. Ask him just about any question about himself or the team and he’ll give an honest answer.
But despite being the National League’s RBI leader through the first two months of the season, McGehee still has trouble evaluating his own performance. That’s because he said he tries to take things on a day-to-day basis as much as possible.
“I try not to get too excited or too upset about anything,” McGehee said. “I just try to get to the next day and focus in on that rather than looking back. Because what I’ve done one day really has no bearing on anything that’s going to happen today or the next day.”
A year ago at this time, McGehee was splitting time with Craig Counsell at second base while getting the occasional start at third. In the batting order, he bounced around, hitting everywhere but fourth and ninth during the 2009 season.
When McGehee started playing everyday toward the end of June, he provided two things the Brewers had been lacking: an everyday third baseman and consistency in the five hole.
“Our biggest two holes last year were the No. 2 and the No. 5,” manager Ken Macha said. “McGehee’s doing a nice job in the five hole.”
With Mat Gamel and Bill Hall ahead of him, McGehee was expected to be a backup infielder for the Brewers after making his first career Opening Day roster. But with a season-ending injury to Rickie Weeks, and as Gamel and Hall struggled at third, McGehee stepped in where he was needed.
McGehee batted .301 with 16 homers in his rookie season, while his 66 RBIs led all rookies. His .859 OPS was also third on the team behind Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.
After a surprisingly strong rookie campaign, which left him fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, expectations were much higher entering McGehee’s second big league season. But while some expected more from him in 2010, many suggested McGehee could be a prime candidate for a sophomore slump.
“I felt like there was pressure to continue to warrant being written in the lineup every day. That pressure’s always going to be there,” McGehee said. “But I think that in some ways having some success last year took a little bit of pressure. With that, I had confidence from the beginning and I knew what to expect as far as what I was capable of contributing.”
Not only has McGehee proved those doubters wrong, he’s nearly matched his season total of a year ago with 41 RBIs through just 48 games. Additionally, McGehee is second on the team with nine home runs and second only to Braun with 22 extra base hits.
True to his simple approach, however, the only opinion that really matters to McGehee is that of his teammates and coaches.
Based on recent lineups posted by Macha, the team’s confidence in McGehee is high. On Sunday, the California native became the first Brewers hitter not named Braun or Fielder to bat cleanup since July 1, 2008.
“I could care less what people want to write and say and what people around the league want to think,” McGehee said. “As long as the guys in here feel that I can do the job, you can write and say and tell me I’m terrible as much as you want. It doesn’t bother me a bit.
So even if someday the critics are proven right, McGehee isn’t worried about it.
“If I have it my way, I’ll be playing this game a long time. And they can keep waiting for me to fall on my face,” he said. “What’s the worst that happens? I fall on my face and everyone is right?”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com.
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