A combination of Braves' pitching, Brewers' offensive woes and bit of tough luck has left the season on brink
ATLANTA – Is Atlanta’s pitching this good or is Milwaukee’s hitting that bad? Or is tough luck making it difficult to be sure?
This is one of those times where the answers are probably yes, yes and yes.
The Brewers’ offensive frustrations continued Monday afternoon in Game 3 of the National League Division Series as the Braves’ pitching staff recorded its second consecutive shutout victory by the same 3-0 score. But this 3-0 result was far tougher to take, all things considered.
The loss left the second-seeded Brewers one defeat away from elimination against the third-seeded Braves, whose pitching has dominated this series. Milwaukee’s has been pretty good as well (1.69 ERA for their starters) but that’s not going to cut it this time around.
Lots of things have changed since they first started playing professional baseball in the 19th century, but there has been one constant: You can’t win if you don't score. Of the 26 innings in which they have batted in the NLDS, the Brewers have scored in only one – a two-run homer by Rowdy Tellez in the seventh inning of Game 1 that produced a 2-1 victory.
Scoring on one swing over three games won’t get you very far. And say what you will about the Braves’ fantastic pitching, but the Brewers have had plenty of chances to produce runs yet have gone 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position.
“Little bit a mixture of both,” centerfielder Lorenzo Cain said when asked if it was Atlanta’s pitching or the Brewers’ offensive failures that put the team in this mess. “When we have made good contact, it’s been right at people.
“Sometimes, you just have to get the job done. We definitely have to go out there and score runs (Tuesday). No way around it and nothing else to say. (Atlanta’s pitchers) are good but we’re better hitters than what we’ve shown.”
This game turned on what happened offensively – or didn’t happen – when the managers pulled their respective starting pitchers in the fifth inning to chase runs. After doing very little against Atlanta righty Ian Anderson through four innings, the Brewers had their chance when Luis Urías was nicked by a pitch and Omar Narváez sliced an opposite-field double down the left-field line, putting runners on second and third with no outs.
BOX SCORE: Braves 3, Brewers 0
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Cain, who knocked himself silly crashing hard into the wall in center in the fourth trying to deny Adam Duvall’s triple, found more tough luck when Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson, playing in, dived to glove his 101-mph smash and threw him out, with the runners holding.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell made the difficult call to remove starter Freddy Peralta, who was throwing the ball well and only at 57 pitches, for pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach in an attempt to get on the board. Vogelbach swung at a high, outside pitch and hit a one-hopper right to third baseman Austin Riley, again with the infield in, and Urías was an easy out running on contact.
The buzzard’s luck continued when Kolten Wong hit a screamer, also at 101 mph, right at first baseman Freddie Freeman for the third out. Double jeopardy played out for the Brewers, with Peralta out of the game and still no runs on the board.
“It's a tough decision,” Counsell said of removing Peralta. “I think Freddy was throwing the ball great. No question about it. I think he could have got two more innings in an ideal scenario. But there was a path to the end of the game, I thought, for us, with our bullpen. And we needed to score. And there was a good opportunity to score.
“And we had Vogelbach on the team for that situation in that spot. They made a great defensive play (on Cain). We lined out. And, unfortunately, it didn't play.”
Things played out differently, to say the least, in the bottom of the inning when Atlanta's first two hitters also reached base, with Travis d’Arnaud and Swanson collecting singles off Adrian Houser. Atlanta manager Brian Snitker then made the same move as Counsell, removing Anderson (who had a higher pitch count at 81) for pinch-hitter Joc Pederson.
There were two reasons to expect this could go badly for the Brewers: 1. Pederson homered off Houser as a pinch-hitter in first game. 2. Pederson has tormented the Brewers for years, be it with the Dodgers, Cubs or Braves, posting a .960 OPS against them with 12 home runs.
With that background, it shouldn’t have been totally shocking that Pederson managed to get on top of a high, two-strike fastball – actually above the strike zone – and drive it far out to right for a three-run homer that turned the game. Just like that, the fifth inning became a total horror for the Brewers, from top to bottom.
“It was where we wanted to go with that pitch,” Houser said. “We wanted it a little more in but it was above the (strike) zone where we wanted it. Tip your cap to him. Nothing you can really do about that.”
As they did in the final three innings of Game 2, the Brewers would have other chances to get back in the game. Tellez led off the seventh with a double and never budged off second. With runners on the corners and one down in the eighth, Christian Yelich grounded sharply up the middle, but right into a double play with Atlanta shifting there.
There’s no explanation for why slumping hitters, when they do hit the ball hard, it often goes right at fielders. That happened in the ninth to Avisaíl García, whose laser beam to third was caught by a leaping Riley, leaving him 1 for 11 in the series with seven strikeouts.
“I thought we swung the bats better today,” Counsell said. “Luck wasn't on our side today with some balls in some key spots. I think the first time through the order, we have to probably be a little tougher, making it tougher first time through the order. Some good starting pitching is making it tough on us.
“And we gotta catch a break, frankly. Today we didn't catch a break. But I did think there were a number of lineouts, number of hard-hit balls. We didn't hit the balls in the right spot today.”
So, the Brewers either win Tuesday or call it a season and fritter away the best top-to-bottom pitching they’ve ever had. Teams that fall behind, 2-1, in best-of-five series historically do not fare well.
Those who don’t score fare even worse. And the Brewers haven't scored for 19 innings.