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Brewers recap 5/28
Walk-off homer caps Gallardo’s shutout
MILWAUKEE — If ever there were a game that could turn the Brewers’ season around, Yovani Gallardo pitched it Friday night against the Mets.
But it wouldn’t have happened without right fielder Corey Hart, who crushed a 1-1 offering from Ryota Igarashi into the bullpen in left for the 2-0 victory and the Brewers’ second walk-off win in two nights at Miller Park.
Gallardo (5-2) delivered an absolute gem of a performance, pitching his first career shutout and second career complete game. As he scattered eight hits and struck out seven while walking one, Gallardo outlasted one of the best lefties in the game in Johan Santana.
Gallardo dialed up the velocity as high as 94 mph in the ninth, but he credited his ability to stay relaxed on the mound for getting him through a 121-pitch complete game.
“Not trying to overthrow is the main thing for me,” Gallardo said. “We all know I have that tendency to try to do a little bit too much in certain situations. But I was able to stay under control and make pitches whenever I needed.”
In his last three outings, Gallardo settled for no-decisions, despite going six innings in each and giving up an average of just over two runs per game.
But Gallardo was not the only one who pitched well on the night. Santana threw eight scoreless innings for the Mets, giving up just three hits and two walks while walking five.
After throwing 105 pitches, Santana was pulled in the ninth in favor of the Mets’ bullpen.
“Once he had doubled, [and] fought through the eighth, I didn’t think it would be a good move,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said of leaving Santana in for the ninth, with Prince Fielder up to bat. “Fielder, I thought he was seeing it pretty good, anyway. I didn’t want to chance him losing that ballgame after the way he had performed.”
For the Brewers’ hitters, the end of Santana’s night was a welcome sight.
“Obviously he’s been known to throw upwards of 120 pitches, and I don’t think he was that high,” Hart said. “For us, it was a little comforting to get a few new guys in there to see if we could handle those guys.”
Hart’s home run was his team-leading 10th of the season, but much like Gallardo would not have gotten the shutout victory without his homer, Hart wouldn’t have even batted in the ninth had it not been for the hustle of Ryan Braun two batters earlier.
Braun grounded a ball up the middle and beat it out for a one-out infield single. Following him was third baseman Casey McGehee, who popped out to the first baseman for the second out of the inning.
“Give Brauny some credit,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “He hits that ball up the middle and runs it out. Otherwise, it’d have been our third out [and] it would’ve turned the inning over. [But] then Corey gets a pitch to win the game.”
Gallardo’s last complete game, a 5-2 win for the Brewers over the Astros, came on April 24, 2009. Its significance is much higher, however, when considering no Brewers pitcher had gone the distance since.
According to Macha, it was Gallardo’s command of his fastball that helped him last all nine innings, as it got him out of several tough situations.
In the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings, Gallardo ended the inning with a strikeout, with the last three looking. Each time, Gallardo ended the inning with a fastball.
“He was throwing everything for strikes,” catcher George Kottaras said. “Throwing that velocity in the late innings is impressive as well, but … it’s also how he got to those pitches in those sequences. He was throwing his breaking ball and his changeup for strikes … and just kept them guessing.”
A few times in the Brewers’ recent slump, Macha has talked about not being able to get over the hump. In doing so, he referenced that when one thing went right, another went wrong.
Friday night, despite the lack of offense, the Brewers played as well as they have all season.
As great as Gallardo’s pitching was, the defense behind him bailed him out in a few tough spots, turning double plays in the third and the eighth innings. The first, which started with second baseman Rickie Weeks, ended the inning after the Mets had the bases loaded with none out one batter earlier.
In the eighth, the Brewers went around the horn to get the first two outs of the inning and save a run, as Santana batted next and crushed a double to the gap in right.
With so much going right in a thrilling win, they may have finally gotten over the hump.
“Those guys are pretty excited in there,” Macha said, referring to his players in the clubhouse. “It should do a lot of things as far as getting people over the hump.”
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 5/27
Hart quietly heating up at the plate
MILWAUKEE — After batting .172 with a .221 on-base percentage and 18 strikeouts in Spring Training, right fielder Corey Hart did not start for the Brewers on Opening Day. Seven weeks later, Hart has quietly become one of the Brewers’ hottest hitters.
Over the past 11 games, Hart is batting .295 (13-for-44) with six home runs, 11 RBIs, eight runs scored, two doubles and a triple. With less than a week remaining in the month, Hart’s numbers in May have already eclipsed those of April in nearly every offensive category.
With six home runs this month, Hart has already doubled his April home run output.
“I’ve been trying to stay consistent, but for some reason lately the ball’s been getting in the air for me,” Hart said. “Sometimes I’ll find a swing that makes me hit the ball in the air a little farther than other times, but it kind of comes and goes. Right now the ones I hit good are going in the air, so I’ve been fortunate to have that streak go a bit longer than normal.”
For the season, Hart is batting .263 with nine home runs — which ties him with Casey McGehee for the team lead — and 23 RBIs, which puts him fourth on the team.
Last weekend in Minneapolis, he hit home runs in each of the Brewers’ last two games against the Twins at Target Field, a ballpark that is near the bottom of the league in terms of home runs per game.
But with the way Hart was swinging the bat, his home runs would have been out of any park. His second homer, which came in the Brewers’ 4-3 win on Sunday, was the first to ever reach the third deck at Target Field.
At an estimated 440 feet, it was the longest home run hit in the short history of the ballpark.
Since sitting out the series opener against the Braves on May 10, Hart has started 13 straight games for the Brewers.
“Looking back at it, he didn’t start Opening Day,” manager Ken Macha said of Hart. “A big deal was made about that and that he didn’t have a very good Spring Training. He’s come out here and worked with [hitting coach] Dale [Sveum] pretty hard and it’s nice to see the work paying off.”
To begin the season, Hart split time with veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds at right field in what, for the most part, amounted to a platoon. While Macha never wanted to call it such, Edmonds typically got the call against right-handed starters, while Hart mostly faced lefties.
The most surprising instance, though, was on Opening Day, when Edmonds got the start over Hart with righty Ubaldo Jimenez on the mound for the Rockies.
While Macha said Edmonds was starting because Jimenez fell into the category of “tough righty,” it was a surprising move with it being Opening Day and with Hart expected to be the club’s everyday right fielder.
Though he credits some of his success to the swing he’s had of late, Hart sees his more consistent playing time as the most important factor in his recent hot streak. Due to a handful of injuries to other outfielders, Hart has started far more of late than he had been early in the season.
“That was stupid, Spring Training doesn’t matter, but they decided it mattered this year for some reason,” Hart said of his preseason slump. “I’m just working to try to turn their minds around. Hopefully I can keep playing well so I can stay in the lineup.
“Coming into this season I think there was a question mark about how long I’d be in Milwaukee. But I want to be here, so hopefully they see me as an everyday guy again.”
Edmonds expected to return on Monday
MILWAUKEE — After speaking with Jim Edmonds before Thursday’s series finale, Brewers manager Ken Macha was optimistic about his veteran outfielder’s chances of returning on Monday when he is eligible to come off the disabled list.
Edmonds, who has been on the DL since May 18 with a left oblique strain, did some soft toss and took some swings in the batting cage before Thursday’s game. Macha also noted Edmonds will be out for early batting practice on Friday.
Edmonds’ return will likely mean the departure of a member of the bullpen, but Macha was not ready to speculate about the move just yet.
“We’ll wait for that when it gets there,” Macha said.
The news of Edmonds’ progress was particularly good for the Brewers considering the uncertainty regarding his return just a few days ago.
When asked about Edmonds during the Minnesota series over the past weekend, Macha said he thought there may be a chance Edmonds would not be back when he was eligible to return on May 31.
“That’s encouraging,” said Macha, referring to Edmonds’ progress. “He’s feeling optimistic, so I trust Jimmy because he let me know at the beginning of the year. He said, ‘I’ll be ready.'”
Inglett available; Gerut remains out
MILWAUKEE — Brewers manager Ken Macha expected to have just two pinch-hitters available for Thursday’s series finale against the Astros: Joe Inglett and Craig Counsell.
Inglett, who had been limited since Saturday with a sprained left ankle, will likely be the Brewers’ top option off the bench Thursday in an injury or pinch-hit situation. Macha said he wanted to get Counsell in the starting lineup, but did not want to lose a valuable bat off the bench.
“I talked to Inglett, he’s been getting a little bit better,” Macha said. “If we had a problem, [Inglett would] go out there and play.”
The other two members of his bench, outfielder Jody Gerut and catcher Jonathan Lucroy, were unavailable. Gerut for injury reasons and Lucroy in case of injury to starting catcher George Kottaras.
Gerut, like Inglett, has been limited since Saturday with a bruised right heel. Unlike Inglett, however, Gerut had not made enough progress to be available against the Astros.
“He’s still moving a little bit slow, it looks like,” Macha said of Gerut.
But Macha remains hesitant to move Gerut to the disabled list, in part due to Jim Edmonds’ recent progress.
“I tried to explain [Wednesday] that you [don’t] want to lose him for all those days,” Macha said. “Edmonds’ feeling was he probably could’ve been back by now, so now we’ve got to wait until a few more days.”
Worth noting
Brewers pitchers have not allowed a home run in the past seven games, their longest streak since August 11-18, 2000. The starting pitchers have not allowed a home run in 10 straight games, their longest streak since May 19-30, 1998. … Corey Hart leads the Majors in home runs since May 15 with six and is second in RBIs with 11. … Ryan Braun entered the day tied for the National League lead in hits with 59. … Casey McGehee ranks first or tied for first among third basemen in eight offensive categories, including batting average, hits and RBIs. … A win Thursday would give the Brewers their first series victory at home since taking two of three against Colorado to open the season.
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 recap 5/23
Brewers’ staff pieces together win over Twins
MINNEAPOLIS — With the way things had been going, the Brewers needed a complete team effort from their pitching staff on Sunday against the Twins. That’s exactly what they got as five pitchers combined to lead the Brewers to a 4-3 win in the series finale at Target Field.
Before the series finale, manager Ken Macha worried that short pitching performances could leave his staff in a state of “total disarray.” That’s because after a one-third-of-an-inning outing by Dave Bush to open the series and a 12-inning game on Saturday, the Brewers had no starter available after using lefty Manny Parra in the 11th and 12th innings in the second game of the series.
Instead, the Brewers avoided that scenario and put together the best complete-team performance they’ve had since before losing 11 of their last 12 games.
“It was a total team effort today, and it’s been that way the whole way,” pitching coach Rick Peterson said. “Nobody has gone into bed and under the covers. Everybody realizes our struggles, but guys are making a concerted effort to improve themselves.”
With the Brewers down a run in the fourth, right fielder Corey Hart stayed hot, crushing a 1-0 pitch from Carl Pavano to the third deck in left, the first ball that has been hit there in Target Field. At an estimated 440 feet, Hart’s home run was the longest yet at the new stadium.
Hart’s blast was his ninth of the season and sixth in the last nine games. First baseman Prince Fielder added a solo shot to right in the sixth, which proved to be the eventual game-winning run.
But it was the Brewers’ pitching that stole the spotlight on Sunday.
Marco Estrada, who had thrown 21 pitches in relief less than 24 hours earlier, got the nod for the start and gave the Brewers three innings, in which he allowed two runs on four hits.
After Estrada was Parra, who remained available to pitch despite being unavailable to start. After being tagged with the loss the night before, Parra (1-3) got the win, throwing two scoreless innings while giving up three hits, walking two and striking out a pair.
With that, the Brewers led, 3-2, through five innings, despite having used two pitchers that had thrown in relief the previous night.
“That’s fighting right there,” Parra said. “We were trying any way we could to get nine innings. It was a good battle.”
But as impressive as the Brewers’ first two pitchers were, it’s the late innings that have been the biggest problem recently. Fortunately for them, the last three pitchers got the job done as well.
Lefty Zach Braddock, who was called up from Triple-A Nashville before the game, delivered two impressive innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out a pair.
With the way Estrada and Parra started things off, Braddock said he didn’t want to disappoint.
“Everyone who pitched today pitched a great game,” Braddock said. “I just wanted to keep up with everyone else and do the job that was asked of me.”
Next up for the Brewers was veteran reliever Trevor Hoffman, making his 1,000th career appearance. In his first action since stepping out of the closer’s role to work with Peterson on his mechanics, Hoffman was dominant in the eighth.
He needed just 10 pitches, nine of which were strikes, to retire the Twins in order and set things up for John Axford to close it out in the ninth.
“He threw strikes, he was crisp [and] he was hitting the corners,” Macha said. “He threw a very good changeup to [Trevor Plouffe] for a strikeout. It’s encouraging.”
Axford, who got his first Major League save on the final day of the 2009 season, was sent out with a chance for his second in the ninth. In order to do so, however, he had to get through the heart of the Twins’ order.
After a leadoff double by Orlando Hudson to the gap in right, Axford got Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer each to strike out swinging with 96-mph fastballs. Axford still wasn’t done, though, as Jason Kubel singled in Hudson and the Twins loaded the bases two batters later.
But with a 1-2 curveball to Plouffe, Axford secured the win as they avoided what would have been the club’s fourth sweep in their last five series.
“It felt good; I just had to get it done,” Axford said. “It was great, it really was. A lot of emotion right there on the mound. That’s probably some of the most I’ll show really at the end. But I was excited. I wanted to get that save and go home with a win.”
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 recap 4/24
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Edmonds note 4/12
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A Schelling For Your Thoughts 
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