Brewers Staying Afloat Without Their Best Power Bats, But Runs Aren't Coming Easily

You could see the seeds of an eventual Brewers comeback early on, even as Tarik Skubal put up zeros for most of his start. After Skubal cruised through their lineup the first time through on just 26 pitches, Milwaukee made him throw 28 in the fourth inning. The Brewers were playing their game, working long at-bats and forcing the opposing starter to exert himself, even if they weren't hitting much.

"Kind of make him uncomfortable and be annoying," Blake Perkins said. "That's kind of our game, sometimes."

It's been an even bigger part of their game recently. Down Jackson Chourio, Andrew Vaughn, and Christian Yelich, the offense is in survival mode. With four starters in the lineup on most days with OPS marks well below .650, the Brewers aren't generating much offense by driving the baseball. That's left them scrapping even harder, relying on walks, infield singles, bunts, and steals—all ways to advance runners without the ball leaving the infield—to scratch across runs.

They were back at it against Skubal on Thursday afternoon, even mixing in a few timely line drives. After a Gary Sánchez bloop single and a Luis Matos ground ball through the hole into right field to open the seventh, Perkins worked a seven-pitch at-bat, forcing Skubal into the heart of the strike zone with a fastball that he lined for a game-tying double.

"He's coming after you, so I think we had to be ready to swing early," Perkins said. "But I think, at least for me in general, trying to bring him closer [to the middle], because he tries to throw that changeup off the outside part of the plate."

Joey Ortiz hit a hard line drive up the middle to move Perkins to third, and David Hamilton snuck a ground ball into left to score him. The Brewers had an improbable lead, a hard-earned prize from an afternoon of gritty at-bats.

"Skubal, he's really, really good," Pat Murphy said. "We had some things go our way and laid down some great bunts, put pressure on him. I'm proud of our club that we battled this way when things are going against us."

That close lead would be short-lived. Ángel Zerpa allowed a game-tying solo home run to Jahmai Jones in the eighth, and Abner Uribe allowed a walk-off shot to Spencer Torkelson in the ninth, continuing a turbulent start to the season for the Milwaukee bullpen.

"They did what they needed to do," Murphy said. "They hit homers off leverage relievers."

The contrast was striking. According to Statcast, the Brewers managed just a 30% hard-hit rate on the afternoon with zero barreled balls, but they squeezed four runs out of minimal solid contact, giving it everything they had through meticulous approaches and small ball. On the other side, the Tigers flipped the game multiple times with one swing, scoring four of their five runs on home runs. Both lineups had competitive at-bats, but scoring seemed easier for the side that slugged.

"They didn't attempt to steal, or they didn't attempt to bunt," Murphy said. "They could swing the bat. They were poised, and they deserved to win."

While the Tigers got their big hits, the Brewers couldn't break the game open, even as they kept pecking away.

"They kept their composure and turned those double plays and made quality pitches at quality times," Murphy said. "We didn't put the nail in and hit. We didn't get the big hit when we could."

At a larger level, that's what's missing from the Brewers' current lineup. The healthy version is not built around slugging, but without their trio of currently injured hitters, it's forced to rely too heavily on the slow assemblage of single runs. Milwaukee is 25th in baseball in home runs and has the highest ground-ball rate, by a long shot. Small ball can be a separator between two good offenses, but it won't get you the big hit.

Chourio is getting closer to a rehab assignment, while Vaughn and Yelich are further off—perhaps another four weeks from returning to action. For now, the Brewers don't have much choice but to keep grinding out at-bats. They'll continue to do that no matter the situation, but their lineup needs more true production.