Brewers Take Three From Rockies

Going into last night, I was informed of two different occasions where the Brewers, in prior management, cleaned up in a series at this particular church in Pitman. In all of the team's woes last year, this was the one place where the Brew Crew could truly find the magic. I had that in the back of my mind during last night's series against Ed's Rockies, and it only dawned on me afterwards that the magic had struck again. Maybe it was fate, luck, kismet, bad rolls on one particular side. Or maybe it was my subconscious move, every time my team was leading with 2 outs in the top of the ninth, to bring my hands together, almost in prayer. 

Whatever the case, the Brewers picked up their first series win of the year last night, winning 3 games at home against the Rockies. Details within:

Game 1- Brewers 4, Rockies 3

W- Victor Vodnik

L- Charlie Morton

SV- Kyle Finnegan

Let the record show that the Rockies struck first here, thanks to a Matt Olson home run and a trio of singles polished off by a Tatis RBI, all off of Ben Lively, who was at least respectable in 5 innings, only allowing the two runs with 7 hits and 3 Ks. The tying runs came from a fourth inning Travis d'Arnaud 2-run home run, while the winning runs came in the seventh on a similar two-run blast from Xander Bogaerts. Victor Vodnik did let one more run go by in cleaning up Lively's late base-fill, but beyond that he provided stellar long relief work in 3 innings. The Brewers, by design, play a lot of close games, but to win this one felt good.

Game 2- Rockies 8, Brewers 2

W- Ben Brown

L- Bailey Falter

It was bound to happen eventually- all my losses had at least been close thus far, but Ed did provide my first blowout loss of the year. The Brewers never even had a sniff of the lead- a dynamite first inning came raining down on Bailey Falter, with an immediate walk, stolen base and home run from opening batters Ha-Seong Kim and Will Smith. Thanks to two more runs courtesy of Ildemaro Vargas and Kevin Newman, the Rox began 4-0 before I could even get to the overplanned offense I'd arranged for Ben Brown. It was no use, as, barring a solo Jackson Chourio homer in the third [and welcome back from the IL, big man], Brown allowed only a couple baserunners. The lead was buttressed by a Luis Garcia homer in the 7th and, continuing Michael Kopech's rotten luck, a two-run homer from Matt Olson. A Jake Fraley sac off of Jordan Montgomery [that's how you know this one got away from me] brought Ed's final total to 8 runs, and one final Heliot Ramos solo dinger off of Michael Grove brought mine to 2. What else can one say but yuck. The one caveat for Ed is that two of his players, Garrett Mitchell and Ha-Seong Kim, left the game with injuries. 

Game 3- Brewers 2, Rockies 0

W- Chris Sale

L- Tyler Glasnow 

Two different factors made it difficult for Ed in this one. One was the rolls. These last two games, the luck did not blow his way whatsoever, despite many opportunities. But if the 2-0 Brewers win owed itself partway to luck, the other part was Chris Sale, or fate as he is sometimes known. Sale was lights-out, striking out 11, only allowing 4 hits, and going 8 innings. The man has yet to garner an earned run with Milwaukee, and is 2-0 to start the season, his only no decision coming from a game the bullpen blew to the Cardinals. However, let's not discount Tyler Glasnow's performance: the run that scored in the third inning did so without any hits allowed, all balls and a HBP that Isaac Paredes thankfully won't miss any time from. J.P. Crawford made it home amid the smoke, Josh Rojas stole a base while pinch running for the injured Paredes, and the Brewers manufactured a run out of nothing. Altogether the Brewers managed just two hits against the Rockies, one being a 2nd inning double from Jeimer Candelario, an ex-Rockie himself, and one being a late home run from J.P. Crawford, getting a very rare roll in that matter. A barrage of ground balls sunk any chance for the Rockies to even the score. Plus, let's have a round of applause for Michael Kopech for not blowing a save for once. He'll be getting a call from David Bednar in the morning.

Game 4- Brewers 6, Rockies 2

W- Erick Fedde

L- Justin Steele

My lineup has a lot of guys that do extremely well against lefties. Heliot Ramos, Kevin Pillar, Carlos Santana. Between the three there were 2 doubles and a walk. So how did the Brewers get 6 runs from the Rockies, even against a tough pitcher like Steele? The guys you wouldn't think twice about throwing to. In the second inning, a pair of doubles brought a run in [thanks to Travis d'Arnaud], and then for the second game in a row, the dice decided that J.P. Crawford, he of the .210 average, was now a power bat. The two-run home run cemented just how unlucky things had become for Ed. Erick Fedde was not impenetrable himself, as despite 6 strikeouts and his second win, he still gave up two runs during the storm of singles in the fourth. Meanwhile, Steele's day ended after giving up a three-run home run to Isaac Paredes [again, very thankful his injury wasn't IL-worthy]. The Colorado bullpen was able to keep the Brewers at bay as the score remained 6-2, but with the Brewers' own recent bullpen woes [Todd can tell you about some of them], Bryan Hudson's task of just shutting things down in the last 2 innings was more daunting than ever. Still, the formidable pen piece K'd his way through the eighth inning. Tragedy struck early when Lane Thomas made it men on first and third with nobody out. The tying run was in the on-deck circle, and Hudson was now potentially in a save situation...and therefore tired. I decided to trust my instincts and leave Hudson in. Again, maybe it was the church setting but Hudson provided. The rolls once again evaded Ed, and all three batters made easy outs to end the game. The RISP issue couldn't be more evident than it was here. 

Hell of a series. The box score may not show it, but I had to really work for these wins. Fair play indeed. Ed, may you have better series' and better rolls. Preferably against any of the other ten teams. 

Chris Sale Goes 8 Strong Innings En Route To A Brewers Victory.