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D-backs rally to beat Brewers in extras
MILWAUKEE — It’s like someone flipped a switch in the fourth inning.
Through the third, right-hander Ian Kennedy appeared headed for disaster. Something changed in his final three frames of work, though, as Kennedy shut down the Brewers and kept the D-backs within striking distance.
As it turns out, the difference may have been the weather.
“Ian struggled a lot,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said. “It was humid and he couldn’t get a grip, especially on his changeup. In the fourth inning, it cooled down just a little bit and he kind of got back into it and gave us six innings.”
Kennedy’s turnaround proved crucial in the late innings as the D-backs turned the tables on the Brewers for a 7-4 win in 10 innings on Monday night at Miller Park.
With two wild pitches on the night, Kennedy increased his season total to 13, moving him into a tie for first place in the National League. He also hit three batters, giving him nine on the season and putting him third in the NL.
“He was having a really hard time,” Gibson said. “His changeup I think was the worst. He couldn’t throw that at all, so he was down to really the fastball and the curveball.”
Overcoming the conditions and the rough start, Kennedy helped the D-backs win for just the 16th time this season in 53 games away from Chase Field.
“That’s one of the things about when we come on the road. When we play at home, we always have the roof closed; it’s the same,” Gibson said. “Somebody asked me the other day about our road woes and this is one of the things you have to deal with. It’s humid here.”
Kennedy also surrendered four runs on five hits and three walks. Kennedy did all of this through the first three innings of the D-backs’ series opener with the Brewers.
In the fourth, fifth and sixth, Kennedy was unhittable, as he did not allow a baserunner while retiring the final 10 batters he faced. Though he admitted the humidity was an issue, Kennedy credited an adjustment he made for his mid-start turnaround.
“For me, all I noticed was I kind of gave about 80 percent instead of trying to 100 or 95 percent every time,” Kennedy said. “It was really just trying to adjust to what I had today.”
After Kennedy got them through six, Gibson admitted he was hoping his team “wouldn’t self-destruct at that point.” It didn’t. In fact, it got better as the game progressed.
Arizona’s bullpen followed suit in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, allowing just one baserunner on a walk, while striking out five of nine hitters.
All told, D-backs pitchers held the Brewers without a hit over 20 straight at-bats before Prince Fielder’s one-out single in the 10th.
In the ninth, it was Brewers closer John Axford who was wild. Axford walked the first two D-backs to bat in the inning, before a sacrifice bunt and an RBI groundout to short tied it at 4.
All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman got in on the act in the 10th, surrendering a bases-loaded single to Stephen Drew, which was set up by a pair of walks, for the loss. Pinch-hitter Ryan Church followed with an RBI single to right for the game’s final run.
“I was watching their at-bats, and [Axford] threw some breaking balls — Trevor, also — that they laid off,” Brewers manager Ken Macha said. “To me, they were pretty good pitches and they laid off of them. So you have to give their hitters some credit, too.”
Hoffman (2-5) took the loss while Sam Demel (1-0) picked up his first Major League win. With the way the game had started for Kennedy and the D-backs, they were happy to deny the win for Narveson and the Brewers.
Winning for the fourth time in their past five games, the D-backs bounced back well from a not-so-impressive 10-1 loss to the Padres on Sunday. In the four wins, Arizona has averaged 5.75 runs per game while giving up 3.5 runs per game.
“We battled and battled,” Drew said. “Ian, I went up to him and he just didn’t have it, and with the sweat and everything else, trying to find a grip. He finally settled in and we got some timely hits and the walk situations were good for us too.
“Overall, everybody just did what they needed to do to get the 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.
Astros beat 8/7
Mills thinks Hart was out on game-winner
MILWAUKEE — While the Brewers were celebrating a thrilling walk-off victory Friday night, the Astros and manager Brad Mills weren’t so sure about the game’s final run.
As right fielder Corey Hart scored the winning run Friday night, Mills was convinced he was out. His opinion remained the same Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the ensuing celebration made it tough for Mills to voice his opinion.
“That is the toughest way to argue a call,” Mills said. “To go out there when everybody is running around — the umpires want to leave, they’re trying to get off the field, and I’m trying to state my case as he’s walking off. It’s a bad place to be.
“They were picking Hart up off the ground as I was running around trying to get to the umpire. That’s a tough situation.”
A closer look at Hart’s slide shows his left leg was several inches off the ground as Astros catcher Jason Castro turned to tag the All-Star right fielder. From the camera angle behind the plate, however, it’s difficult to see whether Hart scores before the tag is applied.
Mills said his catcher could have been better positioned on the play, though he understands the difficulty of catching the throw from right fielder Hunter Pence and making the tag at the plate.
“The ball is always going to travel quicker than the guy is able to get the ball and reach back,” Mills said. “We try to get the guys to straddle the bag and let the ball travel.
“When the ball’s coming from right field, it’s the worst for the catcher. His eyes are on the ball, and he can’t even see the runner out of his periphery. It makes it really difficult.”
Astros like Wallace’s approach at the plate
MILWAUKEE — Like the rest of the National League, the Astros are still learning just what kind of hitter rookie first baseman Brett Wallace could be.
Through five starts and 17 at-bats, early indications have been good.
Wallace showed off one part of his skill set Friday night as he drove a double into the gap in left-center field in the fifth, scoring shortstop Geoff Blum from first base. Hits to left-center field were a common theme for Wallace in the Minors.
In particular, manager Brad Mills also likes the calm approach Wallace seems to have in the batter’s box, regardless of the outcome.
“Isn’t that nice to see?” Mills said. “As a young kid, that sure looks nice.”
Bourn has green light when he feels right
MILWAUKEE — When it comes to stealing bases, it’s up to Michael Bourn to decide when he thinks it’s the right situation to go for it.
When Bourn reached base twice on Friday night, manager Brad Mills reminded his center fielder of that fact more often than usual. With Brewers catcher George Kottaras having thrown out just 16 percent of basestealers this season, the Astros knew they could have an easy time on the bases.
But Mills didn’t want to force Bourn to steal.
“I tried to emphasize him running, but you don’t want to force him to run,” Mills said. “He has to be able to feel it.
“He tried to go a couple times and just didn’t feel it. You can’t force a guy to run when he doesn’t feel comfortable, especially a guy like Michael.”
He finished the night with a pair of stolen bases, but Bourn might have had more if his right foot was feeling 100 percent
Bourn has been slowed since his foot was hit with a pitch Wednesday in St. Louis, though he has not missed any time. Although he was left out of the starting lineup Saturday, it had more to do with Bourn’s numbers against left-handed pitching than his right foot.
“It was sore last night. As he was coming off the field, I think you could [see that],” Mills said. “He said it hurts him more to jog than to run.”
Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Hit-by-pitch issue bubbles over in loss
CHICAGO — Ken Macha finally reached a tipping point on the Brewers’ hit-by-pitch issue in Wednesday’s 15-3 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
With his team trailing 10-3 in the bottom of the seventh, veteran reliever LaTroy Hawkins was ejected for hitting Alfonso Soriano after giving up a three-run homer to catcher Geovany Soto.
After seeing the pitch barely graze Soriano about waist high, Macha was irate over the call, prompting a heated discussion between the Brewers manager and home-plate umpire and crew chief Tom Hallion.
Once Hallion had heard enough, he sent Macha to join Hawkins in the visitors’ clubhouse.
Macha has had several discussions with Major League Baseball officials over the past month as the hit-by-pitch rate of his batters continues to rise. In this Cubs series alone, the Brewers have been hit four times, including one to the head of Carlos Gomez.
Before those seventh-inning fireworks, sixth-inning struggles proved costly once again for Manny Parra and the Brewers.
In each of his 13 starts this season, Parra (3-9) has been unable to pitch beyond the sixth inning. On Wednesday, Parra surrendered five runs on four hits and a walk in the frame, costing the Brewers a chance at a sweep.
After he left, he didn’t get much relief from the bullpen.
Todd Coffey entered for Parra with two on and two out in the sixth and promptly surrendered a pinch-hit three-run homer to Aramis Ramirez, which proved to be the eventual game-winner.
After Coffey was Hawkins, who pitched one-third of an inning, giving up four straight hits, including the three-run home run to Soto before he was ejected for hitting Soriano.
David Riske was then tagged for two runs on four hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Offensively, the Brewers got to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster in one big inning, which was bolstered by a throwing error on the part of third baseman Jeff Baker.
A clean throw from Baker would have ended the inning, but instead, Jim Edmonds scored from third on the play and a Corey Hart double one batter later gave Milwaukee a 3-1 lead.
Thanks to the Cubs’ offensive outburst in the sixth, though, Dempster (9-8) got the 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.
Wolf on track to make next start
CHICAGO — Randy Wolf said earlier this week that he expected to make his scheduled start Saturday. Three days after being hit by a line drive on his left wrist, it appears that will be the case.
When asked about Wolf on Monday, manager Ken Macha didn’t share the same outlook as the veteran left-hander. Instead, he pointed out that the off-day Thursday would allow them to push Wolf back from Saturday to Tuesday.
Wolf said Wednesday morning that as long as he continued to feel OK, he would be on track to make his start Saturday. Following a pregame bullpen session, Wolf’s mindset remained the same.
“It felt great,” Wolf said. “It was all fine, everything was normal. I’m ready to go.”
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.
Gallardo returns to form in Brewers romp
CHICAGO — With the Brewers putting up 26 hits against the Cubs, the offense stole the show in Monday night’s 18-1 win. But right-handed starter Yovani Gallardo was pretty impressive in his own right.
Gallardo went six strong innings in his third outing since coming off the disabled list, giving up just one run on two hits. More impressively, though, Gallardo tied a career high with 12 strikeouts.
“I thought Yo threw the ball pretty well,” said Brewers manager Ken Macha. “He had good command on his low [outside pitches] in particular.
“He was hitting that little box down there, down and away, with consistency.”
After rolling through six innings, Gallardo was removed after just 95 pitches, due in large part to the Brewers’ 13-1 lead at the time.
Macha noted that the need for some of his relievers to get some work played a part in the decision as well.
“We’ve got to get [LaTroy] Hawkins going again,” said Macha, referring to the veteran right-hander, who has recently returned from a 2 1/2-month stint on the disabled list. “[Trevor] Hoffman and [John] Axford both hadn’t pitched in five days. So we needed to get both those guys in there.”
Gallardo’s outing was particularly impressive, considering the way his previous start — against the Reds — had gone.
Last time out, Gallardo struggled, giving up six earned runs on 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings of work.
“Every time I help the team win, it’s a pretty good day at the ballpark,” Gallardo said. “Obviously, my last start wasn’t very good. You can’t worry about one [bad] start, we’re all going to have them. You’ve just got to bounce back and keep moving forward.”
At the plate, Gallardo reached base after being hit by a pitch in the third, but finished as the only player in the Brewers’ starting lineup without a hit.
That was just fine with Gallardo.
“I’ll take how the day went today,” he said. “Any time I get up there and get a hit, it’s a bonus. Let the hitters do their job and I’ll do the pitching.”
That formula worked pretty well for the Brewers on Monday.
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