Brewers - Orioles Series Recap

Game 1: (Orioles 7-Brewers 6)The Orioles got to the usually sure-handed Milwaukee bullpen in the late innings to steal the game in the 10th. After forcing K-Rod's second blown save they strung together hits in the 10th off Rob Wooten to take a lead they wouldn't give back. The day was headlined by Khris Davis going 4-4 with a homerun, Lyle Overbay also added his own dinger. Kyle Lohse pitched decent (6.2 innings 4er) in one of his few non-quality starts this season. The headline of this day was the Brewers inability to capitalize in key spots, they were 3-15 with RISP and left 9 men on base: not the way a winning team plays.

Game 2: (Brewers 7-Orioles 6) This time the Brewers got their 7-6 victory after surrendering an early five run lead thanks to the longball. Gomez, Reynolds and Davis all went yard to jump out to a quick 5-0 lead. The Orioles then scored six unanswered before Lucroy tied it in the 9th on a chopper to third base. The highlight of the night of course was Yovani Gallardo's pinch hit walkoff double in the 10th inning as the Brewers were out of position players. Garza pitched well, (6.2 innings, 3er) of course the stats somewhat lie because of a big unearned (Segura error) 3-run homer in the 7th that gave the Orioles the lead. Garza had a good start for the second straight time out he just needed some defense behind him. The bullpen returned back to form with 3.1 solid innings of work.

Game 3: (Brewers 8-Orioles 3) The Brewers got a lead in the first on a Carlos Gomez single and never let it go. Fresh off his walkoff, Yovani Gallardo pitched his 8th quality start in 10 outings. After Gallardo went 6.2 innings and giving up 3 runs, Will 'slider of death' Smith slammed the door in the 7th punching out Chris Davis then struck out the side in the 8th. The wheels fell off for the Orioles after the Brewers opened the bottom half of the 8th with four hits to extend the lead to 8-3. (Gomez double, Reynolds single, Weeks PH single, Davis 3-run homer). They were led offensively by the greater Khris Davis who added two hits and 3rbis tonight.

Recap: The Brewers win their second straight series behind offensive outbursts. They have recorded 8 games in a row with ten or more hits. Khris Davis has been on an absolute terror: he has a 7 game hitting streak in which he has recorded 12 hits including 4hr and 7rbis. Another huge move has been Gomez batting in the 4th spot in the order. In that spot he has batted .500 (12-24) with a homer and 7rbis of his own. Gomez also stole second in the 8th and became only the second player in the majors with 10hr and 10 stolen bases this season. Will Smith also remained lights out stranding two more inherited runners tonight and has done so with 14 of the 17 he has been given this season. Opponents are batting .200 against him and his ERA has dropped to .36 a third of the way through the season. Smith is making a strong case at his first all-star appearance.

Strange but true: Khris Davis had 3 homers and 5rbis in the series while the O's Chris Davis didn't even record a hit in the series. I think the nickname Khrush Davis will stay in Milwaukee. The Brewers open up a weekend series vs the Cubs Friday. They carry the division lead a third of the way through the season.

Pitchers Who Rake: Yovani Gallardo

Morry Gash/AP

Yovani Gallardo walks-off the Brewers in the 10th inning with a 2-out gap shot to score Mark Reynolds from first. The next day's starter hitting a walkoff: I have literally seen it all now. In a game where the Brewers (Segura) managed to throw away (literally) a 5 run lead the Brewers stole it back in extras. Carlos Gomez got the offense started with a 3-run homerun (11) in the first inning followed by solo shots from Reynolds (12) and Davis (8) in the second and fourth innings. Matt Garza was strong through 6 innings before the wheels fell off in the 7th giving up a three-run pinch hit homer to Steve Pearce. He should have been out of the inning before the Segura error, but Roenicke left him in too long regardless. After Manny Machado robbed Mark Reynolds of a go-ahead double in the 8th, Lucroy's 9th inning infield chopper tied the game. The bullpen was able to shut down the Orioles for 3.1 innings after Smith relieved Garza in the 7th with the help of Tyler Thornburg and Francisco Rodriguez. How bold of Buck Showalter to walk Mark Reynolds to get to the former Silver Slugger Yovani Gallardo. Side Notes:

Khris Davis homered for the fourth time in his last ten games tonight. He is batting .308 with those four homeruns and eight rbis in those games. He has also shown better patience at the plate drawing three walks the last ten contests. He might be finally settling in at the major league level.

Carlos Gomez registered his eleventh homerun and 29th rbis of the season on that first inning homerun. He continues to hit well in the re-designed lineup that has him batting 4th. I'll be interested too see where he moves when Ramirez comes back as Segura has flourished in the leadoff role.

I'm not positive but Yovani Gallardo could be the first next-day starter to ever have a walkoff hit. He takes the mound in the rubber match tomorrow looking for his third victory of the season. Gallardo missed his last start because of his sprained ankle but it looked good as he rounded first and reached second in the 10th. Strange but true: According to Elias Sports the last major league pitcher with a walkoff hit in extra innings was also a Brewer: Glendon Rusch did it in 2003 vs the Astros in the 14th inning.

Brewers-Pirates Storylines

Carlos Gomez is yet to hear from the MLB about his appeal so he will get to start at least the first night of the series. I think this is what most of us wanted to see at least with Gerrit Cole on the mound against the crew for the first time since the Mother's Day brawl. Should be interesting from the first pitch with Gomez batting leadoff against Cole. Hopefully the Brewers get out to a solid lead so we can play bean ball and stir the pot a little. The Brewers send out Marco Estrada who went six strong with one earned in his only start against the Pirates this season. 

Ryan Braun was reinstated off the DL today and is back in the lineup batting third finally stabilizing that spot. He has had success this season batting .400 (12 for 30) with three of his homers against the Bucs. Hopefully he can hit the ground running since he took Aramis Ramirez's spot as he went to the DL with his hamstring strain. Ramirez's move was retroactive to the 11th however. Another roster move the Brewers made was sending down Caleb Gindl and recalling utilityman Elian Herrera from AAA. Herrera has been red hot batting .577 (15 for 26) in the past week. The switch hitting Herrera will be needed as the Pirates are throwing leftys Wednesday and Thursday.

Other notes: Gomez took a pitch on his left foream/hand in the final game of the Yankees series so we'll see how it holds up tonight. Lucroy gets his chance to bat cleanup with Ramirez out of the lineup. Logan Schafer will get another start taking Khris Davis' spot in the lineup as he has been cold of late at home. Schafer comes off a big game in which he notched a clutch double in the rubber match of the series against the Yankees. Lastly Scooter Gennett gets back in the lineup replacing the hot-hitting Rickie Weeks. Weeks looks likely to get the last two starts in the series however against Francisco Liriano and Wandy Rodriguez, both of whom have struggled this season.

Free-Swinging Crew Stays Best In MLB

As I watched Carlos Gomez step into the box last night down by one in the first inning I found myself almost expecting a homerun. Boslinger preceded to cork a get-me-over fastball right down the middle and Gomez unloaded on it. As soon as I saw Gomez connect with that ball I sat up and said "that's gone" like it was beyond the shadow of a doubt. Boslinger was out there thinking that a leadoff hitter is going to take a few pitches and work the count, but what he forgot is that Gomez is not a prototypical leadoff hitter and the Brewers are not a prototypical major league team.

The Brewers have defied all conventional baseball wisdom to run out to the best start in baseball. If you just looked at the stats where the Brewers are 6th worst in on-base percentage (.304) and have the 5th fewest walks (83) you'd think they are a losing club. Their mindset is that it doesn't matter what count it is, they're just looking for good pitches to hit. I remember a quote Prince Fielder had one season in Milwaukee when he was slumping where he said that you don't hit homeruns, they are thrown to you. This seems to be the mantra of this years team because when they see a pitch they like you can bet they are hacking.

In today's game the bullpens are tougher on average than starting pitching, so the strategy of running up pitch counts to chase starters may be becoming outdated. Averaging 2.52 walks per game this season would rank second worst in team history if the season ended today. Khris Davis and Jean Segura having three walks in 236 plate appearances doesn't help that stat much, but they're both having good seasons regardless. Big hits outweigh walks in the win column which we saw with Davis in St. Louis and Segura last night.

The pitching remains a huge aspect as to why this formula is working for the crew. They are still yet to be defeated when scoring more than four runs (18-0). As long as the lineup puts runs on the board we could really care less how they get on base. Carlos Gomez is batting a mind-boggling .520 when he swings at first pitches and has three homers. When it comes to sortable batting stats the Brewers could care less. The only stat that matters is the number in the W column, and right now it's a league best 22.

Chipper Jones: Closet Carlos Gomez Fan

The Brewers have gotten off to the best start in the majors with a 15-6 record, however that is not the reason they are making headlines. The Brewers are in the news with Gomez being labeled a "thug" for standing up for himself against the smart-mouthed youngster Gerrit Cole. Former Braves great, and arguably the greatest switch hitter of all time Chipper Jones took offense to this negative publicity Tuesday.

Jones is absolutely right when he says people would love Gomez if they just appreciated him for the player he is instead of listening to the media portray him as a hothead or thug. People and the media should focus on the fact that his success as an elite five-tool player has led the Brewers early to the best record in the bigs. Who knew Chipper Jones was such a closet Carlos Gomez fan?

Brewers - Pirates Brawl Appreciation

Today Major League Baseball dealt suspensions for Sunday's scuffle between the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Gerrit Cole, who decided he needed to be the enforcer of baseball etiquette, took it upon himself to tell Carlos Gomez how fast he needed to get out of the box on what he thought was a homerun. This ignited a brawl that Cole wasn't even punished for in the end. Ultimately suspensions were given to Carlos Gomez (3 games), Martin Maldonado (5 games), Travis Snider (2 games) and Russell Martin (1 game). Lost in the slap on the wrists from Major League Baseball is the appreciation of good competition. Sunday's brawl showed us in an era where star players run the league, being a team trumps everything. Cole and Gomez who started the brawl weren't even the ones finishing it. It came down to Snider and Martin defending their young stud pitcher and backup catcher Martin Maldonado standing up for his start center-fielder coming in as the enforcer with a haymaker on Snider, who will be sporting a black eye for the next couple of days. I for one am excited to watch these two teams battle it out for the rest of the season. Every inside pitch, hard tag, and bat flip will have extra meaning, ultimately leading to great finishes like we saw with Khris Davis' go ahead homerun in the 14th inning Sunday. These two teams will see each other for four more series throughout the summer. Let the games begin.