5/4 – 5/10 Brewers Week In Review

AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

The Craig Counsell Era began this week with a bang. The Brewers managed to win the first game against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers in come from behind fashion, giving the Brewers their first 3-game winning streak of the season. The Dodgers snapped that winning streak on Tuesday, but the Brewers still managed to split the 4-game series. Then the Cubs came to town and the Brewers took 2 of 3 from them.

The Brewers faced the Dodgers and Kershaw in Manager Craig Counsell’s first game at the helm. Kershaw has been successful at Miller Park, going 4-0 and not allowing more than 1 run in any game. It appeared that he would continue that dominance as the Dodgers had a 3-0 lead going into the 6th inning. Hector Gomez led off the inning with a triple and Gerardo Parra followed with another one, cutting the lead to 3-1. Kershaw managed to get out of the inning without any more damage.

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth. Hector Gomez hit his first career home run to get the Brewers to within 3-2. Adam Lind came in as a pinch hitter against one of the toughest and hit a double to right center field. Chris Hatcher came in for Kershaw and Carlos Gomez hit a double of his own to score Lind. After a Jason Rogers ground out, Gomez was on third with 2 outs and Ryan Braun coming to the plate. Hatcher managed to break Braun’s bat, but Braun beat out a base hit and Gomez scored the lead run. Francisco Rodriguez closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth and the Craig Counsell Era started off with a win.

Zack Greinke shut down the Brewers in game 2 of the 4 game series. He went 7.2 innings and gave up just one unearned run. The Crew did have the lead going in to the 6th, as Matt Garza kept the Dodgers off the board until Justin Turner hit a 3-run home run. Jimmy Rollins and Adrian Gonzalez each hit 2-run home runs in the 7th to give the Dodgers a 7-1 lead. Both teams tacked on a run in the 9th to finish off an 8-2 defeat that snapped the Brewers’ 3-game winning streak.

The Brewers jumped all over the Dodgers in the third game of the series. Scooter Gennett and Lind each hit 2-run home runs in the first inning as 5 of the first 7 Brewer batters scored. Wily Peralta pitched 8 strong innings to make sure that the lead held. Joc Pederson hit 2 home runs, but it was not enough for the Dodgers.

Game 4 was competitive until the sixth inning. The score was tied at 3 until the Dodgers scored 4 in the inning, giving them a 7-3 lead. Then Dodgers’ catcher Yasmani Grandal hit 2 3-run home runs, one in the 8th and one in the 9th, to double his home run total for the year. He also tripled his RBI total by getting 8 for the day. The only bright spot in the 14-4 loss was Mike Fiers striking out the side on 9 pitches in the 4th inning. Even with the loss, the Brewers managed to split the series.

Jimmy Nelson pitched 7 innings against the Cubs, striking out 11. Unfortunately, he also gave up 3 out of the 4 home runs hit by Chicago. Two costly errors on the same play ended up allowing the Cubs to score the eventual winning run in the 9th. Third baseman Elian Herrera had a throwing error that allowed Addison Russell to advance to second, then Gennett threw the ball to third with nobody covering, allowing Russell to advance to third. Russell then scored on a 2-out infield single giving the Cubs a 7-3 lead. Ryan Braun hit a 3-run home run in the 9th, but that last Cubs run proved to be the game winner.

Khris Bryant hit his much anticipated first home run, a 3-run shot in the third, but the Brewers were able to overcome that with 3 home runs of their own, including Jason Rogers’ less anticipated first home run of his career. Things got so bad for the Cubs that they had their catcher, David Ross, pitch in the 8th inning. He proved to have the best outing for Chicago, getting the Brewers out 1-2-3. The final score was 12-4.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and Martin Maldonado’s mother was visiting from Puerto Rico. Maldonado and Herrera hit back to back home runs in the 7th for a 2-1 lead. An RBI double by Anthony Rizzo in the 8th tied the game, setting up some extra inning dramatics. The Brewers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th inning with one out. Maldonado came up and hit a 1-1 fastball over Cubs’ right fielder Jose Soler to drive in Braun for the winning run. The win gave the Brewers the series win. After losing their first 7 series, the Crew has now won 2 and split 1.

The Brewers were happy to have Gennett and Jean Segura back in the lineup. Segura missed Monday’s game due to being hit by a pitch the day before. Gennett was on the disabled list with a lacerated hand that happened after the game against the Pirates on April 19. He also returned to the lineup on Tuesday against the Dodgers. Carlos Gomez and Aramis Ramirez each had 3 days off this week. Gomez has a sore hip and was kept out as a precautionary measure. Ramirez is dealing with a sore back. Meanwhile, Jonathan Lucroy is making good progress with his broken toe. He was seen hitting in batting practice on Saturday and is on schedule for coming back on the short end of the original 4-6 week projection.