Brewers Bounce Back With Unpredictable Split in Pittsburgh

Leave it to a 4-game sweep against a good team to make you want to question everything.

After dropping 4 straight to the Dodgers, the majority of them very close games, the Brewers were in need of a momentum boost. It would be fundamentally tricky, considering Steve's Pirates were working with A.) a strong rotation, B.) the addition of Pete Alonso, and C.) extremely low diamond probabilities in Pittsburgh's stadium. The issues of the Brewers are fairly simple- not enough building blocks, too many innings-fillers, lots of replacement-level settling. But games can still be won with that, as I proved last year.

This series against the Pirates was a ton of fun, even if Steve will admit the rolls very frequently evaded him. Both teams took two, and some truly unbelievable things happened.

Here now the writeup:

Game 1: Pirates 3, Brewers 2

W: Joey Lucchesi

L: Kyle Finnegan

SV: Dennis Santana

I think this was the more straightforward game of the series. Sonny Gray is still probably my best starter, he went 7 strong with only 2 earned runs, including a homer to Sean Murphy. His K total, again, was lower than one would expect with his card, with only 3, but he's made up for it in general dominance. And in a year where my team's defense is a liability, no runs were lost to errors...at least this game. Michael Soroka also had a relatively strong game, safe for a rough 3rd inning of RBIs from J.P. Crawford and Kyle Stowers. Struck out only 3 in 5, but helped along by my guys repeatedly grounding into double plays. This was the game where I kept rolling onto Soroka's 4 column, and getting all the outs. 

It was ultimately a matter of whose bullpen would screw up first, considering both offenses were kind of muted. Steve's bullpen had Josh Hader, Phil Maton, Joey Lucchesi and Dennis Santana getting out of scrapes. Mine had Kyle Finnegan giving up 4 straight singles, 2 straight stolen bases and 2 runs. Like last year, Finnegan is terrific at times and terrible at others but can't seem to pick when for each. This time he blew the game for me. He was better elsewhere.

Steve had enough prime relief options to keep my team down and squeak out a win. I'd lost five straight. Something had to give, right?

Game 2: Brewers 3, Pirates 1 [F/10]

W: Jhoan Duran

L: Calvin Faucher

SV: Anthony Bender

For a while this one was kinda similar to Game 1. Strong pitching, occasional knicking through. Homers were 1-4, the contact game was the way to go, and that honestly wasn't working. Altogether, the Pirates left 7 guys stranded on base, the Brewers with 2. In fact, the Pirates actually outhit me this game, 7 to 5, and yet the win went where it went. 

First of all, credit to Zack Littell for holding the Pirates down and stranding people. He pitched 7, struck out 7, only allowed the 1 run on a Cody Bellinger homer, which, for the record, was the last homer [of two] the Pirates would hit during the series. The Brewers' one run during regulation, against a very dominant Freddy Peralta who struck out 9 Brewers, came on a Wilmer Flores home run in the 2nd. Crucially, though, Flores was the only Brewers batter to make it past 2nd during regulation. 

So then what happened? My bullpen locked in, Vodnik and Duran atoned for previous grievances, and my top 3 batters squandered every opportunity to force extras. Again for me. 

Thankfully this one wasn't quite the bullpen drainer for me. Against Calvin Faucher, the middle of the lineup came alive. Xander Bogaerts singled to first, then Wilmer Flores beat the odds for a diamond that landed north of 4, shocking both of us. Bender closed it out, and somehow, Wilmer Flores had been responsible for all three runs in a game as close as this. I'd lost so many games on close happenstance rolls before that I was happy to get this one back.

Game 3- Brewers 6, Pirates 3 [F/11]

W: Jimmy Herget

L: Joey Lucchesi

SV: Kyle Finnegan

It often happens that the pitchers I plan the most against are the ones that I can never do anything against. Clay Holmes is one of those. In my planning he looked hittable. Barring a solo shot from Eli White of all people, he was not. 7 strong innings, 7 Ks, 5 hits, that one earned run. I don't even remember Holmes being that dominant for the real-life Mets last year. 

This was the game where the errors began to pile up for the Brewers. Isaac Paredes and Eli White let crucial balls drop, leading to runs scoring in the 2nd and 7th. I can only credit so much to great hitting from Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker, as the Brewers' defense was just as central to those runs scoring. Carlos Rodon was alright enough himself despite the errors, he struck out 7. But he honestly needed better run support, as did most of my starters.

Once Holmes was taken out, things were leveled a bit. Heliot Ramos hit a solo shot in the 8th off Phil Maton, then Jackson Chourio cracked a single off Dennis Santana that drove 2 more runs in, tying the game in the ninth. For the second game in a row, my bullpen was up to the challenge, and Jhoan Duran's complete 9th inning dominance continued.

This one went to the 11th, making this series a lot kinder on my bullpen than the Dodgers one. Again, Steve's pen was the first to crack, as Joey Lucchesi had Matt McLain single on, then Jackson Chourio went yard [on what I have a feeling was another low-odds split roll]. THEN J.P. CRAWFORD, OF ALL PEOPLE, WENT YARD. He's not supposed to do that til the Rockies series! Three runs in the 11th all but ended it, but Kyle Finnegan's redemption inning certainly helped.

This was a game where I somehow got all the rolls and Steve got absolutely no luck. But, as I told him, that could turn around at any moment.

Game 4: Pirates 5, Brewers 3

W: Calvin Faucher

L: Jimmy Herget

SV: Dennis Santana

This was the game where virtually every fielding-x roll resulted in either a single or an error for me. I think it was from the 4th to the 6th inning where that was all I was doing. Just awful luck on defensive cards, even ones that weren't too bad. It was ruining, again, a pretty decent start from Matt Boyd. Most of the runs that scored during his start where courtesy of defensive split rolls. No real power moments from the Pirates in this one, and most of the RBIs and sacs came from lower lineup guys like Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm and Mookie Betts, with a surprise pinch-hit double from Javier Sanoja late. 

The Brewers, meanwhile, barely got anything going offensively either against Luis Castillo, who struck out 6 over 7. The split rolls that I got earlier weren't coming here either. Around the 7th things finally started to turn a little, with a pinch-hit RBI single from Wilmer Flores, hero of the series, after some small ball and an error got some baserunners on. Right around when I tied it in the 8th, it was looking moore plausible, but that sloppy bottom 8 run from Jimmy Herget, resulting in the Sanoja game-saving double, spoiled it. 

All in all, fun series, with a much better outlook for the Brewers. I won 2 close extra-inning games on the strength of my bullpen. I also lost 2 games thanks to the bullpen. But, again...single-friendly ballpark, quieter bats. I had to make do, and I tried to. Bit alarming that none of my starters were credited with wins despite not exactly getting shellacked, but we'll try to fix that going forward. Definitely a stronger showing than the box score may read for Steve, he kept me on the ropes in every game and managed his way to some late spoilers. Always a hoot though. 

I'm off for a little while til midmonth on account of some busier tuesdays. If people wanna schedule stuff for the first half of the month, inquire within. If you're lucky, you could get to play this team before I need to call up the Miz.