'Kind of An Unsung Hero': Joe Ross's Successful Transition to Relief Continued With Crucial Game 2 Appearance

When identifying key contributors to the Brewers’ comeback victory in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, one could choose from a large number of names. Trevor Megill and Joel Payamps contained the Mets in the middle innings, with the latter delivering Milwaukee’s first shutdown inning of the series after the Crew trimmed the deficit to one run. Jackson Chourio clobbered his first two playoff home runs, the second of which tied the game. Garrett Mitchell followed four batters later with the decisive two-run blast.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy made sure to throw another name into the ring.

“You’ve got to look to Joe Ross as kind of an unsung hero in this game,” he said in his postgame press conference. “He got four huge outs in crucial times.”

Ross entered in the top of the seventh to face J.D. Martinez, with a runner on first and the Brewers still trailing, 3-2. He induced a soft lineout to end the inning, before returning to face the minimum in a scoreless eighth. That set the stage for Chourio and Mitchell’s heroics minutes later.

Murphy said the Brewers were willing to use Megill in the fourth and fifth innings because they trusted Ross to retire the slew of right-handed batters in the bottom half of the Mets order. He earned that trust due to his strong work in relief throughout the final two months of the regular season.

Ross’s tenure in the starting rotation was a mixed bag, interrupted by a back injury that cost him two months on the injured list. In 10 starts, he pitched to a 4.98 ERA, 4.11 FIP, and 4.66 SIERA. After an unsuccessful performance in his return outing, the Brewers shifted him to relief, where he posted a 1.67 ERA, 3.35 FIP, and 3.89 SIERA.

“Honestly, just trying to stay aggressive when I get out there,” Ross said of his mentality out of the bullpen. “Just trying to hold my own with the rest of the guys. We’ve got one of the better bullpens around.

“Anytime you go in out of the bullpen, it’s pound the zone, get ahead, stay ahead, and try to limit the long at-bats.”

Ross throws a four-seam fastball and a changeup to left-handed hitters, but as a right-hander whose best pitches are his slider and two-seamer, he was always better suited for relief. The improved results in that role are not surprising.

“He can sink the ball and bring it back on the outside. He loves his slider,” Murphy said.

Ross has done more of what his manager is describing there since shifting to the bullpen. Instead of attacking right-handed batters inside with his two-seamer, he’s spotting it as a back-door pitch.

The two-seamer away better sets up Ross’s signature slider, because both pitches are starting in the same tunnel. Both start just off the plate, with the former coming back to catch the corner and the latter diving away from the batter. The separation is later, making the decision of whether to swing more difficult. As a result, righties chased 43.5% of Ross's sliders outside the zone after his move to the bullpen. Their chase rate on sliders was 30.6% in his starts.

The two-seamer's physical characteristics have benefited from modest improvements. It’s added half a tick of velocity on average (94.6 mph to 95.1), and the lateral movement distribution is tighter.

Ross is getting more consistent run on the ball. When he does come inside, that extra inch or so of movement has helped him jam righties for harmless flyouts like the one depicted below. This two-seamer featured 17.1 inches of arm-side movement.

The optimized version of Ross has been a tough draw for same-sided opponents, who slugged .203 with zero extra-base hits in his regular-season relief outings.

It was a similar story when Ross faced four righties on Wednesday night. None recorded a hit, and the only baserunner reached on a walk.

The context of the outing made it even more impressive, particularly for someone who has spent most of his career as a starting pitcher. Ross got hot, sat down, and started again multiple times throughout the game, beginning in the second inning and continuing throughout the night. Repeated starting and stopping of a warmup routine encapsulates the uncertainty associated with pitching in relief.

“With the situation [being] win or go home, I don’t think it’s too hard to stay locked in, to be honest with you,” he said, adding that the adrenaline boost from the situation helped him stay loose. “Just staying focused, keeping up with the batters, kind of paying attention to the sequencing and things like that. When it’s your turn to go out there, just do your thing.”

If the Brewers make a deep playoff run, it won’t be the only time Ross is called upon in a close game. He’s become a trusted member of one of baseball’s best relief corps.

“No situation is too big for him,” Murphy said. “I was really pleased with his poise.”