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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.
Sixth-inning struggles send Brewers to loss
MILWAUKEE — After a thrilling series-opening win Monday, the Brewers’ hopes of making a run toward getting back into the playoff race were high. Two days later, a pair of blowout losses have taken a toll on such a positive outlook.
What a difference a couple days can make.
Like it has many times this season, the sixth inning loomed large for the Brewers on Wednesday. Over 103 games, the Brewers have given up 69 earned runs in the frame, good for a 6.03 ERA, which is tied with the first inning for the worst this season for the Crew.
Left-handed starter Chris Narveson combined with Kameron Loe to surrender five runs on five hits and two walks in the sixth, as the Brewers lost their second straight game to the Reds, 10-2, to drop the series and fall back to seven games under .500.
After tossing five scoreless innings and entering the top of the sixth with a two-run lead, Narveson (8-7) did not record an out, while loading the bases on a pair of singles and a walk.
“It was tough, because you had two ground balls in that inning, both where if they’re hit at somebody, you can get an out. One ball, you could get a double play on,” Narveson said. “It’s funny how the game is.
“It just kind of snowballed from there for us.”
Manager Ken Macha said he made the decision to remove Narveson because the Brewers had a rested bullpen after limiting the number of relievers needed a night earlier.
First out of the ‘pen was Loe, who entered the game with a 1.44 ERA over 25 appearances. He gave up two hits and walked a batter before getting the first out of the inning.
Tagged for two runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning, Loe also allowed all three inherited runners to score. Entering the game, Loe had stranded 18 of 23 inherited runners.
While Loe was able to get the Reds to hit it on the ground as intended, their grounders did not work out the way he would have liked.
“They hit them too hard. I want soft ground balls, feeble contact,” Loe said. “They might have been ground balls, but not the kind I would have liked. They hit good pitches, too, so give them credit.
“They’ve got a good lineup, man. All series, I didn’t see too many bad swings.”
Loe’s ERA jumped to 1.97, but his performance in the sixth paled in comparison to the rough eighth inning for Carlos Villanueva.
With the Brewers hanging around down just three runs, Villanueva entered in the eighth to hold the Reds in check and give the top of the Brewers’ order a chance to turn the game around in the bottom half of the frame.
Instead, after playing plenty of small ball over the first seven innings, the Reds showed off the power stroke in the eighth.
Villanueva gave up a pair of singles and walked pinch-hitter Mike Leake, before surrendering a towering grand slam to deep left field off the bat of Brandon Phillips. Two batters later, Joey Votto put another out to left, making it 10-2 and putting the game out of reach.
“That grand slam just opened the game wide open,” Macha said. “The first rally, the first five runs, they put the ball in play, they give you good at-bats with two strikes, they’re not afraid to hit the ball the other way.
“Starting the second rally, we got bunts for a base hit, they got the hit-and-run there, the squeeze play, they stole some bases on us here. They’ve got a lot of ways to score.”
Offensively for the Brewers, left fielder Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy each drove in a run as the Crew took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
While the game was still in reach in the seventh, center fielder Carlos Gomez led off with a double to the corner in left. He tried to stretch it to a triple, though, and was thrown out a third by Reds left fielder Jonny Gomes.
“I got him on the hop all the way from the wall. It was good,” Gomes said. “It was only 5-2 at the time. A leadoff triple might turn the game around. It was a big out for us.”
Afterward, Gomez shared a similar mindset with Gomes as he defended his mistake.
“In a situation like this, you want to make something happen and wake up the team,” Gomez said.
Milwaukee was unable to put anything together the rest of the way, as second baseman Rickie Weeks’ leadoff single in the eighth would be the last hit of the game for the Crew.
Adding insult to injury, first baseman Prince Fielder was ejected by home-plate umpire Mike DiMuro after he was called out on strikes to end the eighth inning.
After putting together a Miller Park-best seven-game home win streak and winning five in a row overall, the Brewers head to Houston having lost two in a row and dropping back to nine games out of first place in the National League Central.
“I think we just look up to the next series,” Narveson said. “We leave this behind us and try to go into Houston and get right back on that winning streak.
“It’s all about winning games.”
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 twirls gem to give Brewers victory
MILWAUKEE — Chris Narveson may not need to find a clubhouse assistant to pitch the first inning for him after all.
Instead, Narveson just pitched the first inning in the bullpen.
After taking his initial warmup easy before Sunday’s 3-0 victory over the Mariners, Narveson and catcher Jonathan Lucroy simulated the first two batters he would face in the bullpen before heading out to the mound. The idea was to shake the struggles that accounted for a 12.27 first-frame ERA this season.
And it worked. Narveson responded by going out and turning in a career-best performance for his seventh win of the season.
The southpaw tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing just five baserunners on four hits and one walk while recording seven strikeouts as the Brewers took the rubber match at Miller Park.
“Just mentally being prepared for them to play my game rather than seeing how they would react to my stuff,” said Narveson, referring to what he changed in his approach on the mound.
“I wanted to put the pressure on them and try to command the strike zone so they were hitting my pitch, instead of falling behind and have to maybe come into their pitch.”
After a two-out double in the first by left fielder Milton Bradley, the Brewers lefty responded quickly by getting third baseman Jose Lopez to fly out. That began a stretch of nine consecutive retired batters.
Through three innings, Narveson — who entered the game with a 5.76 ERA — had retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. He extended that streak to 11 of 12 before giving up a single to Lopez in the fourth.
“He did a nice job of getting ahead of our hitters,” said Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu. “After that, I thought we helped him out quite a bit with pitches outside of the zone.”
Before a sixth-inning single by second baseman Chone Figgins, Narveson had retired 17 of 19. Through seven innings, Narveson sent down 21 of the 24 batters he faced.
To complete the deviation from the norm, Narveson’s last inning was his worst, as he allowed two Seattle batsmen to reach base — on a leadoff single by shortstop Jack Wilson and a walk to Ryan Langerhans. Thanks to an inning-ending double play, though, Narveson escaped with his scoreless outing intact.
“He was awesome. He mixed his pitches well and threw his strengths to the hitters’ weaknesses,” Lucroy said. “He’s just keeping the ball down. All of his pitches were working today. Whenever the pitcher has that ability to mix all of his pitches and locate them and keep them down, it’s very rare that a guy gets beat doing that.”
A leadoff home run by Rickie Weeks provided all the offense Narveson and the Brewers needed.
Weeks was not done, however, as he finished the day 4-for-5, adding a double in the third and a pair of singles in the fifth and seventh. After opening the game with a homer, double and single, Weeks came up a triple shy of the cycle.
The four hits tied a career high, and it was Weeks’ fourth-career four-hit game. He last recorded four hits in a game on Sept. 2, 2008, against the Mets.
“It feels good,” Weeks said. “It’s just another day for me I guess. For the most part, you just try to get on base and you try to score runs to help the ballclub win.
“That’s my job — to get on base and try to score some runs.”
The Brewers added a pair in the fifth as Alcides Escobar scored on a Corey Hart double and Hart came around one batter later on a sharply hit Prince Fielder single to right.
With the RBI, Fielder made it four consecutive games in which he’s driven in a run.
While his numbers are still down from a year ago, the Brewers first baseman now sits second on the team with 15 home runs and fifth with 31 RBIs.
The Brewers improved to 5-1 on their current homestand with three games remaining against the Astros. Milwaukee is seven games under .500 at 34-41, and the Brewers sit 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds.
According to skipper Ken Macha, the Brewers are doing what they need to if they want to get out of their self-dug hole.
“What I put a lot of stock in is winning series,” Macha said. “That’s a step in the right direction, winning the series. The sweep [against the Twins] was a big plus, because that takes a couple other series out of the way that you have to win.
“If we had lost today, it would have been a step backwards. We want to just keep moving forward.”
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 recovers from slow start to win
MILWAUKEE — With the Brewers beginning a stretch of 20 games in 20 days on Tuesday, manager Ken Macha talked prior to the opener against the Twins about avoiding a game that taxed the entire bullpen. He also discussed needing to get long reliever Chris Capuano some work.
Six batters into the first inning against the Twins, it looked like he might get both.
After hitting the leadoff batter and walking two men, Brewers starter Chris Narveson allowed three consecutive singles, giving up three runs without recording an out. That prompted Macha to get Capuano warming up in the bullpen.
Narveson promptly retired 14 of the final 16 batters, and he picked a man off, escaping with an improbable 7-5 victory at Miller Park.
With the bases loaded and three runs already in, Narveson induced a popup to center field from Twins third baseman Danny Valencia. From there, the lefty settled in and turned the game around, avoiding a disastrous start.
“It’s a mentality a lot of times,” Narveson said. “It was kind of one of those things where you said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to step up and pitch the way you can. You’ve got a good game plan. You know how to attack these hitters. Go out and execute it, and go from there.'”
Narveson (6-4) got the start against the Twins because right-hander Dave Bush was pushed back to Friday due to poor career numbers against the club, including a career-worst outing at Target Field earlier this season when Bush was unable to escape the first inning.
Through six batters, Narveson appeared destined for the same fate. The rest of the way, he nearly faced the minimum number of batters. First-inning struggles have been common for Narveson, whose ERA in the frame jumped to 12.27 for the season. But he rebounded against the Twins to earn his sixth victory of the season, tying him with Yovani Gallardo for the team lead.
“He threw the ball over a little better, and he used his breaking ball and changeup a little bit better,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He did a good job of hanging in there because we could’ve put him away in the first inning, and he got out of it. And then he did a really nice job of hanging in.”
Narveson also contributed some timely hitting in the fourth inning, driving in the go-ahead run to complete a four-run rally.
The Brewers opened the inning with four hits in a row, including a three-run homer to right field by Casey McGehee that tied the ballgame, 3-3. But it was the fifth hit of the inning, off Narveson’s bat, that put the Brewers ahead for good.
“I was able just to stay inside of it and get it down the line,” Narveson said. “There was definitely luck and skill involved, but I think you’re just trying to help the team win the game any way you can.”
After trailing early against Twins starter Scott Baker (6-6), who has had a history of success against the Brewers, tagging him for four runs in the fourth was a big boost for Milwaukee. Baker won both of his starts against the Brewers in 2009.
“They’ve got a quality starting staff. That was big for us to be able to come back on a guy of his quality,” McGehee said. “He’s given us some fits. I know last year, he was tough on us, so it was definitely nice to be able to get something going against him.”
The Brewers scored three more runs in the sixth and seventh, including a Rickie Weeks solo home run, giving them breathing room. The insurance came in handy when reliever Todd Coffey gave up two runs without recording an out during his first appearance since May 29.
With the tying run at the plate in the eighth inning, though, closer John Axford came in and shut the Twins down, recording six outs for his fifth save of the season. He surrendered only one hit, to Joe Mauer with two outs in the ninth inning, but he recovered to fan Justin Morneau and end the game.
The Brewers hope that they can make up some ground during their nine-game homestand, and taking the first game was a positive first step. When asked about it after the game, Macha said the club just needed to get back to .500 first. Milwaukee’s win against the Twins improved its record to 30-40. The Brewers trail the NL Central-leading Cardinals by nine games.
“When you’re this far behind … it would be nice to get within the tail lights of .500,” Macha said. “They’re around the bend right now. It’s still a long way off, but a good homestand would help that out.”
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.”
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