The Everyday Nine: Brewers Have Locked into a Highly Effective Lineup, and Are Trusting It

It was a steamy 92° at game time Sunday in Minneapolis. The heat index threatened to touch triple digits all day, as it did on Saturday. It was the final game of a three-game set awash in heat, coming off what manager Pat Murphy called "an emotional series" in Chicago. William Contreras had started each of the first two games of the series behind the plate, which was a mild surprise, because Saturday's game was a day game after a night game, in addition to being played in such heat. Yet, when the lineups came out Sunday morning, Murphy's nine looked just as it does almost every day:

1. Sal Frelick - RF
2. Jackson Chourio - CF
3. Christian Yelich - DH
4. William Contreras - C
5. Isaac Collins - LF
6. Rhys Hoskins - 1B
7. Brice Turang - 2B
8. Caleb Durbin - 3B
9. Joey Ortiz - SS

The only wrinkle, really, was that Murphy flipped Turang (who had batted fifth the previous three games) and Collins, moving the switch-hitter up to thwart the Twins' opener gambit and deny either lefty opener Danny Coulombe or righty bulk arm David Festa the platoon advantage the first time through the lineup. That's how things are going, lately. There might be small changes (Contreras batted third and Yelich fourth for a stretch last week, for instance), but these nine players start almost every day.

Jake Bauers last got a start on June 11; Eric Haase made his last start on the same day. Daz Cameron hasn't been in the starting lineup since June 9, and for Andruw Monasterio, it was June 4. With the planned off day last Monday and an unplanned one Wednesday (and without, much to Murphy's chagrin, a doubleheader Thursday), the skipper has written the same nine names into his lineup card for the last nine games.

That's only possible because they're playing exceptionally well, of course. They're averaging seven runs a game over those nine games, and have won seven of them, beating some strong teams in the process. Although they're a bit light on power at times, this group can manufacture runs with the best of them, in myriad ways. If and when they get Blake Perkins back from the fractured leg that aborted his spring training and delayed his season, the team might mix and match more. Right now, though, Murphy has found a formula that works, and he's sticking with it.

Chourio, Turang, Ortiz and Frelick are all among the top 40 players in the majors in defensive innings played. Contreras leads all catchers in innings caught, despite the fracture in his left hand that makes that painful. Hoskins is now eighth in the bigs in innings played at first base, and although it took a while for both Durbin and Collins to establish themselves, each is now a staple. Yelich, meanwhile, hasn't started in the outfield since May 13. His nearly full-time status as a DH has eliminated the opportunity to ease Contreras's catching burden without losing a key contributor in the lineup, but it's also allowed Yelich to stay in the lineup and work through his early slump. He's up to 312 plate appearances, just three shy of his total from last year, and after that cold start, he's batting .289/.358/.482 since the midpoint of April.

Though it's much less discussed than pitcher workload, position players do need days off and ways to stay fresh, too. This is a bit of a gambit by Murphy, pushing the pedal down for his hitters during a period in which the team needed to make up some ground in the hunt for either the NL Central title or a Wild Card berth. They've done so, thanks in no small part to winning four of six against the Cardinals and Cubs of late, and we're likely to see the everyday nine get a bit of a breather during home series against the Pirates and Rockies. That they've played with such good energy and executed so well, though, proves that Murphy was right to trust them with a stint of heavy use designed to win some key games.