As Their Offense Surges, the Brewers' Defense Keeps Contributing to Wins

[Jack Stern]

The Brewers continued their offensive rampage to open their longest homestand of the year, but the defense scattered its fingerprints all over the team's latest comfortable win.

Image courtesy of © Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

After weathering their first losing month of the regular season and starting August with a series loss, the Brewers have come roaring back with four straight authoritative wins. The Brewers have scored 42 runs in that span. They’ve scored at least eight runs in each game, the latest of which was an 8-3 win over the division rival Reds to kick off a 10-game homestand, Milwaukee’s longest of the season.

Understandably, the offense has grabbed the headlines this week. However, the Brewers’ latest win also illustrated how vital their defense remains to their success.

Playing plus defense has become a staple of recent Brewers teams, and it’s a key reason why the club has remained consistently competitive. Friday night featured reminders of that remaining true, even as the offense surges.

No single play functioned as a turning point in the game, but the Brewers flashed their leather throughout to keep it rolling smoothly after the bats staked Aaron Civale to an early lead.

After Civale allowed a leadoff double to Noelvi Marte to open the third inning, Luke Maile hit a soft lineout to Brice Turang, who scampered to the bag to double off Marte.

Civale was animated after the double play. In a 6-0 game, it may not have seemed like a dramatic play, but it was a boost to a pitcher trying to eat innings with a lead.

“It turns the inning around and potentially turns the game around,” Civale said.

Civale held the Reds scoreless through his first six innings of work in what was one of his best starts as a Brewer, but things started to get hairy in the seventh.

The Reds opened the inning with three straight hits against Civale, including a leadoff home run by Spencer Steer and a double by Ty France. The latter nearly plated the second run of the inning, but Garrett Mitchell, Willy Adames, and William Contreras teamed up on a relay play to throw out Jeimer Candelario at the plate for the inning’s first out.

Preventing that run from scoring looked more significant when Stuart Fairchild homered off Nick Mears two pitches later to make it 8-3 and Marte doubled. Had the lead shrunk to 8-4 with no outs in the seventh and a runner on second, the abrupt escalation to a high-leverage situation likely would have changed how Pat Murphy deployed his relievers. Instead, the relay play kept the Brewers in more comfortable territory.

Perhaps the most impressive play of the night was Joey Ortiz’s diving stop down the third-base line in the ninth. Ortiz snagged a ground ball by Marte, got to his feet, and fired a one-hop throw that Rhys Hoskins picked for the second out of the inning.

Murphy was impressed with the play itself but also lauded Ortiz for defending with high-leverage intensity in a low-leverage situation. During a long season that wears on players physically and mentally, that’s easier said than done.

“It’s just hard to be in the game in the same way [with a big lead],” Murphy said. “To be that good, right then, in that way… that was a Turang-type play. And Joey’s been doing it all year.”

This year’s offense has proven itself as a sustainably above-average unit. Don’t overlook the defense, though. It’s still a driving force behind the Brewers’ success, even if it does not take center stage every night.

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[Brian]

Rhys Hoskins hot in August: 9 for his last 26 with 2 walks. A good time for him to get hot with the playoffs on the horizon.