Article: Brewers 1, Athletics 2: Brewers Fall In Extras

[Jason Wang]

The somnambulists the Brewers currently call a lineup were unable to make up for yet another late bullpen slipup, as the Oakland Athletics (yes, them) clinched a series win.

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Julio Teheran - 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 98 pitches, 65 strikes (66.3%)
Home Runs: William Contreras (8)
Top 3 WPA: William Contreras (.332), Julio Teheran (.235), Devin Williams (.137) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Joel Payamps (-.300), Christian Yelich (-.269), Willy Adames (-.196) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Teheran Tosses A Terrific One
Teheran was excellent in Saturday’s start, stretching out to seven innings while giving up just one earned run. After cruising through four scoreless innings, Teheran gave up two singles to Jace Peterson and Aledmys Diaz, before a ground ball by JJ Bleday allowed Peterson to score. If Andruw Monasterio had fielded the bouncer perfectly, the Crew could have turned an inning-ending double play to deny the tally, but the lost segment of a second when he let it find the heel of his glove proved costly.

Teheran wasn’t able to match the blazing velocity of pitchers like Shintaro Fujinami or Joel Payamps, topping out at 90.7 mph on his sinker. Nonetheless, his craftsmanship and masterful control allowed him to get 12 swings and misses and notch six strikeouts. 

Contreras Comes Up Clutch
After Oakland scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning, the Brewers would tie it up in the eighth inning off of a crucial pinch-hit solo home run by William Contreras. 

The ball was an absolute missile to dead center field, coming off of the bat at 109.3 mph and traveling an astonishing 440 feet. It had an xBA of 1.000 and would’ve been a home run in any ballpark.

Extra Innings, Extra Disappointment
Devin Williams was his usual self in his ninth-inning relief appearance, opposite the aforementioned Fujinami. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, the same could not be said about Joel Payamps who would enter the game in the 10th inning.

With a runner already placed on second to start the frame, Aledmys Diaz hit a leadoff single to drive in the go-ahead run. Payamps would escape the inning without further scoring by Oakland, but the damage had already been done. 

With just a one-run deficit, the Brewers rolled over and recorded three consecutive outs to end the game.

What’s Next? 
Freddy Peralta will toe the slab against JP Sears in the final game of the series, as the Brewers try to avoid a sweep. If Milwaukee is indeed swept by the meme team of MLB, I’m not sure how I or anyone else on this site will react. Probably not well.

The Brewers are now technically tied with the Pirates for the lead in the NL Central division, and we likely won’t see real separation until they face each other in a series next weekend.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Payamps	18	0	14	0	19	51
Peguero	15	0	8	0	23	46
Megill	17	0	0	27	0	44
B Wilson	0	0	20	18	0	38
Strzelecki	16	0	21	0	0	37
Williams	11	0	0	0	23	34
Milner	0	0	0	32	0	32
Sousa	0	25	0	0	0	25
Miller	0	0	0	10	0	10

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