You Can't Win Every Night: Brewers Encounter Inevitable Reality in Loss to Red Sox

The way it happened was excruciating. Jacob Misiorowski was cruising, overpowering Red Sox batters and (if anything) outpitching fellow Cy Young Award candidate Garrett Crochet. When he lost control in the sixth inning, though, it was simply gone; he couldn't find his release point again. Normally, with the bases loaded but the game still scoreless when Misiorowski departed, Pat Murphy would have gone to one of his most trusted relievers, but plainly, the plan on Tuesday night was to give back a bit to the baseball gods.

Murphy has used Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Ángel Zerpa and Grant Anderson as heavily as anyone involved is comfortable with, this spring—if not more than that. He needed to let them each get a day off Tuesday night, so in a high-leverage spot that might normally have called for Ashby or Zerpa, Murphy went to DL Hall. Unfortunately, Hall let all three runners Misiorowski had bequeathed come home, which turned out to be decisive.

Even in defeat, the Brewers offense was delightfully tenacious. They chased Crochet from the game in the very next half-inning, and patched together a two-run rally made up of two singles, a walk, a hit batsman and an RBI fielder's choice. They couldn't quite cash in their chance, though, and it turned out to be their last one. That raises the other reason (besides Murphy's desire to give his relievers some relief) why Boston had the upper hand on the Crew in this game: Crochet, and the lineup the visitors were forced to field against him.

Murphy used the occasion (a top-flight lefty starter who's especially tough on lefties) to give both Brice Turang and Christian Yelich a rest. That part's fine. It was necessary, and didn't deprive the club of anyone who was likely to do much against Crochet. The real problem is that, with Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn on the injured list, this team is not as dangerous against lefties as it would be at full strength.

William Contreras is a legitimate star slugger, and can mash lefties when he's going well. With Chourio and Vaughn sidelined, though, Murphy wrote in Brandon Lockridge as his leadoff man Tuesday night, and placed Joey Ortiz fifth on the card. Those guys are fine complementary players, especially against lefties. They have athleticism and defensive value, as well as the platoon advantage on southpaws. Pressed into what were essentially the third- and fourth-most important roles in the offense, though, they were a bit stretched.

The bottom third of the order included Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins and David Hamilton. Though Frelick is a full-time player, the three of them weren't in the lineup because Murphy thinks they're good matchups for the likes of Crochet. They weren't even there for their defense, per se. It was just the right night for Muprhy to give two regulars a night off, in addition to staying away from his highest-volume relievers. Winning that game was unlikely, and the way Murphy managed it didn't make it more likely. That wasn't his goal.

'Win Tonight' is a wonderful and massively successful paradigm. Murphy has made the Brewers the envy of every other team in the league with it. However, he's also learning to notice when the time is right to accept a loss. No team in baseball history has won more than 116 games in a regular season. Trying to be the first team to reach 120 is not only impractical; it's self-defeating. More even than in the NBA, in baseball, one has to occasionally accept a loss, to make wins on other days more likely.

The Brewers are 8-3. They're off to a sizzling start. They just can't afford—especially now, while two of their best hitters are down and some of their pitchers are still getting up to speed—to try so relentlessly to win every game that they risk hurting their chances to keep winning over the long haul.