Article: Brewers 9, Cubs 5: Death By a Thousand Singles

[Jason Wang]

What seemed to be a low-scoring affair quickly became a wildly exciting display of baseball intelligence after a breakout inning by the Brew Crew in the sixth. It was all-hands on deck as the Milwaukee Brewers win their first series of the season and return home with a record of 2-1.

Image courtesy of David Banks, USA Today

  Box Score
SP: Eric Lauer: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (89 pitches, 53 strikes (59.6%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Brice Turang (.235), Jesse Winker (.169), Garrett Mitchell (.127) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Victor Caratini (-.096), Joey Wiemer (-.064), Javy Guerra (-.031) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Lauer Makes Strong Season Debut  
A bit of a rough start saw Lauer throw 21 pitches in the first inning and give up a 375-foot home run to Patrick Wisdom in the second, but he was able to refocus and hold the Cubs to just two runs in his five innings of work. Lauer’s persistence and ability to remain calm bodes well for future starts and potential playoff opportunities.

Things got a little scary when Javy Guerra stepped on the mound. He showed his excellent stuff, throwing a sinker that almost touched 100mph with nearly 20 inches of both horizontal and vertical break, but he struggled immensely with control. He threw just five strikes in 15 total pitches, giving up a hit and two walks without recording a single strikeout. Luckily, his team's run support and limited outing prevented him from doing any serious damage, giving up just two earned runs in total. 

Base Hits for Everyone
The Brewers exploded for five runs in the sixth inning despite no extra base hits. After a groundout by Victor Caratini, a Brice Turang walk, Joey Wiemer single, wild pitch by Julian Merryweather, and a Christian Yelich walk to load the bases, Jesse Winker hit a crucial two-run line drive single to ignite the scoring.

Willy Adames and Rowdy Tellez continued the onslaught with two more singles followed by a sacrifice fly by Brian Anderson and yet another single by Garrett Mitchell. The inning of punishment finally ended when Caratini struck out in his second at-bat of the inning.

Is Winker Back in Business? 
After a rough season in Seattle, Brewers fans have been wondering if Winker would return to his all-star form. An 0-for-4 team debut didn’t make the greatest first impression but a crucial pinch hit appearance on April 1st and his three-RBI performance today set the stage for a much-needed redemption season.

Of course, a three-game sample size isn’t much to go off of especially when his second game consisted of a single at-bat, but a powerful Winker consistently filling in the DH position could be exactly what the Brewers need to surge into the postseason.

What’s Next? 
The Cubs were a formidable division foe to start the season, especially given their offseason additions of Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, and Trey Mancini into the lineup. While there seem to be some apparent issues with bullpen consistency, the defensive abilities of the infield have been exceptional to start this season off. 

Rookies Brice Turang and Joey Wiemer have also shown pieces of excellence in their short-time in the majors thus far. With the absence of Luis Urias due to a hamstring injury, Turang especially has big shoes to fill at second base while Wiemer has the pressure of lofty expectations as one of the team's most highly touted prospects.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Varland	0	19	0	0	12	31
Strzelecki	0	10	0	17	0	27
Payamps	0	0	0	0	23	23
Guerra	0	8	0	0	15	23
Williams	0	0	0	16	0	16
Bush	0	0	0	13	0	13
Milner	0	0	0	0	10	10
B Wilson	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[wiguy94]

Nice to get the W without using Williams, Bush, and Strzelecki. 

[kalle8]

It was fun to watch a game like this. The W, the kids, the little things and ....luck as well, it seems like 10.000 years we didn't score as many runs without a HR.

[Jake McKibbin]

2 hours ago, kalle8 said:

It was fun to watch a game like this. The W, the kids, the little things and ....luck as well, it seems like 10.000 years we didn't score as many runs without a HR.

The luck part is interesting, because while It's fair to say the bloops were lucky, the number of high exit velo line drives hit right at a guy was pretty astounding too, particularly early on, so it kind of evened out