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Brewers will have to deal without Yelich the rest of the way

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Christian Yelich File Photo

Milwaukee Brewers standout Christian Yelich will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his right kneecap in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Marlins in Miami.

Yelich is scheduled to return to Milwaukee on Wednesday for additional tests.  At this point, it’s not yet known if he’ll need surgery.  Yelich suffered the injury when he fouled a pitch off of his knee in the first inning.

“First and foremost, we feel awful for Christian,” said Brewers general manager David Stearns.  “This is a guy who’s carried us in a number of ways over the last two years.  He could’ve been two and a half weeks away from a repeat Most Valuable Player award.  So that’s where our thoughts are first.

“From a team perspective, we’ve got a lot of guys in that clubhouse who will hurt tonight.  This is a gut punch for a night.  And then we need to recover and play really strong baseball.  We’ve been through this before as an organization.  Two years ago, almost to the day, we lost Jimmy Nelson to a similarly freak injury, and we competed at a very high level for the remainder of the season.  And I expect our team to compete at a similarly high level going forward.” [Read more…]

Brewers getting help from the unexpected, take 3 of 4 from Cubs

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Craig Counsell

Tyler Austin’s pinch-hit three-run homer snapped a 3-all tie in a five-run fourth inning, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 8-5 win over the Chicago Cubs in the series finale at Miller Park on Sunday.

Eric Thames also homered as Milwaukee took 3-of-4 in the series, doing what they had to do to get back into Wild Card playoff contention.  The Brewers dropped the series opener on Thursday night, then won three straight to climb to within two games of the Cubs for the final Wild Card spot.

Last week, manager Craig Counsell said if his team was going to have a chance, they were going to need to get contributions from backup players and that’s what he got this past weekend.

Austin’s home run off of Cubs starter Jon Lester was the biggest blow, but Tyrone Taylor got his first major league hit, an RBI single in the sixth and pitcher Brent Suter worked two innings of relief for his first win since June 21, 2018.

Eric Thames also homered against Lester, who gave up all eight runs.

The Brewers also pulled to within a half-game of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lost in a walk-off to the Cincinnati Reds.  The Philadelphia Phillies won, so they stay tied with the Brewers.

The Brewers open a seven-game road trip with the first of a four game series tonight in Miami against the Marlins.  Jordan Lyles (10-8, 4.46) faces Miami’s Robert Dugger (0-1, 4.00) in the pitching matchup.

Brewers late heroics fall short against Astros (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

Christian Yelich clubbed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, but Milwaukee reliever Junior Guerra gave up a solo homer to George Springer in the top of the 10th as the Houston Astros pulled out a 3-2, 10-inning win in the series opener at Miller Park.

Yasmani Grandal also homered for the Brewers other run.

Yelich was called out on strikes in the bottom of the tenth for the second time in the game.  The other came in the sixth inning.  Both calls by home plate umpire Ben May were high and out of the strike zone and it had the Brewers plenty mad.

“It’s two awful calls,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.  “I have to say it.  It’s the magnitude of the spot, it’s the hitter.  It’s bad calls.  It’s bad umpiring.”

With reporters surrounding Yelich’s locker after the game, the Brewers right-fielder avoided going off on the umpire to avoid a fine by the league. [Read more…]

Brewers drop third straight, falling further behind in wild card race

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Craig Counsell

Yadier Molina hit two home runs and the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to six games with a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Tuesday night.

Miles Mikolas struck out 10 without a walk to earn the win for St. Louis, which has now won 15 of its last 18 games.

The game was delayed in the seventh inning for nine minutes after the Brewers got caught by a pop-up shower while the roof was open.

Yasmani Grandal drew the Brewers to within 4-3 in the eighth inning, clubbing a two-run homer.  But when the Brewers couldn’t draw even, manager Craig Counsell went to rookie Devin Williams in the 9th, instead of closer Josh Hader.  The Cardinals tacked on two more in the ninth to make it 6-3.

The Brewers put two runners aboard in the bottom of the 9th and for a brief moment looked like they [Read more…]

Brewers stumble late, drop second straight to Cardinals

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Junior Guerra – File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Milwaukee Brewers took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning over St. Louis on Tuesday night, then the roof caved in, leading to a 9-4 loss to the Cardinals.

The Cardinals tallied four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to take control of the game.

The meltdown started in the bottom of the sixth when Jeremy Jeffress (3-4) loaded the bases and didn’t retire a batter.  After Alex Claudio came on to strike out Kolten Wong and Craig Counsell turned next to Junior Guerra.

Guerra quickly walked Harrison Bader to force in the tying run before striking out pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter for the second out.  The big blow came next, when Dexter Fowler lifted a broken-bat pop fly [Read more…]

Brewers salvage finale with the Reds, lose another starting pitcher (AUDIO)

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Freddy Peralta (file photo)

The Milwaukee Brewers salvaged the final game of their three game series with Cincinnati, but they lost another starting pitcher in the process.

Yasmani Grandal’s two-run single capped a three-run fifth inning as the Brewers pulled out a 5-4 win.

Keston Hiura had a solo homer in the fifth, while Ryan Braun clubbed a two-run homer in the first.

Matt Albers picked up the win and Freddy Peralta notched his first save.

Josh VanMeter went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for Cincinnati, which had won three of its previous four.

Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin struggled early, then left after three innings with a right oblique strain.  Chacin is expected to join Brandon Woodruff on the injured list, leaving the Brewers scrambling for starting pitching help. [Read more…]

Reds start early, cruise to victory over the Brewers (AUDIO)

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The Cincinnati Reds scored four runs in the first inning and five more in the fifth on their way to a 14-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Tuesday night.

Eugenio Suarez went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI, Jesse Winker homered and Phillip Ervin hit a three-run triple as the Reds built up a 9-0 lead.

Tanner Roark picked up his sixth win, giving up two runs over five innings, helping the Reds win three of their last four.

Manny Pina was 2-for-2 with a home run and four RBI for the Brewers.  Zach Davies allowed seven runs in four-plus innings to take the loss, he fell to 8-3.

The Brewers are 9-19 against sub-.500 teams over the past month and a half but manager Craig Counsell said, “Who we’re playing doesn’t matter.  You’ve got to play a good game to win.”

The Brewers will try to salvage the final game of the series this afternoon.  Jhoulys Chacin gets the start for the Brewers.  Lucas Sims gets the nod for Cincinnati.

AUDIO: Craig Counsell asked about the teams struggles against sub-.500 teams :18

AUDIO: Zach Davies on giving up 4-runs in the 1st inning :13

Brewers bullpen fails to hang on to victory

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Jeremy Jeffress (File Photo)

Tyler Saladino was looking to play hero for the second straight day, but the Brewers bullpen didn’t allow for it to happen as Milwaukee suffered a 6-5 loss in their series opener against the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park on Monday night.

Saladino took a first pitch fastball and homered to straight away center, his second grand slam in as many days.  It put the Brewers up 5-4 and their third straight come-from-behind win in sight.

However, Josh Hader wasn’t available to slam the door in the ninth and that proved trouble for the Brewers.  They instead went with Jeremy Jeffress for the third straight day.  Jeffress hung a breaking ball to Eugenio Suarez, who deposited it into the seats in left center, giving the Reds the comeback win. [Read more…]

Brewers to be without Woodruff for up to six weeks

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The Milwaukee Brewers All-Star right-handed pitcher Brandon Woodruff was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain.  Woodruff’s stay on the injured list will be considerably longer.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Woodruff is expected to miss about six weeks.  The Brewers recalled RHP Burch Smith from Triple-A San Antonio to fill the open roster spot.

Woodruff had turned into the Brewers top pitcher this season, posting an 11-3 record with a 3.75 ERA.

Now, we’ll see if president of baseball operations David Stearns will place a top priority on acquiring a starter before the July 31st trade deadline, or try to add to the bullpen.  The Brewers do get some off days in August, which will allow the Brewers to go to a four-man rotation for a while.

Brewers drop series opener to Braves

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Keston Huira – Courtesy of MLB

The Milwaukee Brewers lost for the 18th time in 27 games with a 4-2 setback to the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Miller Park.

The script was written differently in the loss, as the Brewers got solid pitching but little offense.  Adrian Houser allowed four runs and eight hits in his six innings, and manager Craig Counsell said afterwards Houser threw the ball well.  The bullpen, which has struggled of late, didn’t allow a run over three innings.

However, lefty Max Fried shut the Brewers out over five innings as the Atlanta starter, and the Brewers only runs came in the sixth off middle reliever Josh Tomlin.  Keston Huira went 3-for-4 and was a home run shy of the cycle.  Christian Yelich added two hits.

The Brewers are 48-47 but trail first place Chicago in the NL Central by just 2 1/2 games after the Cubs lost in Cincinnati.  Tuesday night will see Brandon Woodruff throw for the Brewers against Bryce Wilson.