» Brewers lose:
Hamilton hits first career walk-off blast
The Brewers fall, 5-4, in Cincinnati to drop 11⁄2 games behind Colorado in the wild-card race.
CINCINNATI - It’s no secret that the ball flies at Great American Ball Park, and that any hitter might knock one out of there.
But a walk-off home run by Billy Hamilton, a leadoff hitter known for his speed, not his power? That’s a shocker.
The Brewers were left to absorb that unlikely ending Monday afternoon when Hamilton ripped a two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth off rookie left-hander Josh Hader, giving the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
“He’s certainly not known for that,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said after the first walkoff homer of Hamilton’s career. “But he put a good swing on it, and it happened. Anybody is capable of it, certainly, in this ball park.”
The loss kept the Brewers 3 games behind Chicago in the NL Central race but dropped them 1 1⁄2 games in back of Colorado for the second wild card.
Baseball is a game of adjustments, and Hader might have to make one after suffering the same result in consecutive out-
ings. He was virtually untouchable in the first 2 1⁄2 months of his big-league career despite being thrust into the unfamiliar role of relief pitcher.
But, along the way, Hader primarily threw fastballs (82%), and hitters are now sitting on that pitch when they can. In his previous outing, Washington scored twice in the eighth inning off Hader to pull out a 3-2 victory Saturday when Michael Taylor jumped on a first-pitch fastball for a home run and Trea Turner ripped a RBI double off a fastball.
Hader threw a 0-1 changeup to Hamilton that he fouled off and then came back with a 95 mph fastball on the inside corner that the switchhitter yanked out to left for his first homer this season from the right side.
“I haven’t looked at it yet but I think it was a pretty good pitch, inside,” Hader said. “I maybe left it up a little bit. I felt like it was a good pitch. He just got it right.
“That’s how the cookie crumbles today.”
Now, the question is, how will Hader handle consecutive hiccups. He was a starting pitcher in the minors under pitch counts, so walk-off homers were not an issue. The “sudden death” aspect of late relief can shake even a veteran pitcher, much less an impressionable rookie.
Hamilton’s shocker ruined what had been a quick and dramatic comeback for the Brewers, who appeared to be in trouble entering the seventh inning. They trailed, 4-0, and Reds starter Homer Bailey, who brought a 7.51 earned run average into the game, had retired 14 hitters in a row.
But things changed dramatically, beginning with a leadoff home run by Ryan Braun. It was Braun’s first home run since Aug. 12 (against Cincinnati’s Kevin Shackelford) and his 25th alltime at GABP, most by a visiting player.
When Travis Shaw and Domingo Santana followed with singles, that was all for Bailey. Righthander Michael Lorenzen took over and retired the next two hitters, and the Reds were one out away from holding a 4-1 lead.
As Orlando Arcia came to the plate, pitching coach Mack Jenkins came out to talk to Lorenzen. It’s unlikely that Jenkins told him to hang a first-pitch slider, but that’s what he did and Arcia blasted it out to leftcenter for a three-run homer that tied the game.
“I was just trying to stay back on the ball and go up the middle,” said Arcia, who was in a 5for-46 skid (.109) before the homer. “I was going up there looking for offspeed, up in the zone that I could do something with. Thankfully, I got it and was able to do something with it.”
The Brewers handed the Reds a run in the third inning, and it could have been worse. It all started with Bailey battling starter Chase Anderson for 10 pitches and winning by lining a single to center.
Arcia muffed Hamilton’s grounder, trying to flip it to second, and Zack Cozart walked to load the bases. Anderson walked Joey Votto to force in a run, a first for Anderson in the majors but not the last of the day.
Further damage was averted when Adam Duvall grounded into a double play and the Reds settled for a 1-0 lead.
Anderson cruised through the fourth and fifth innings before finding trouble from which he could not escape in the sixth. Singles by Votto, Duvall and Scooter Gennett loaded the bases for one down, and Anderson issued his second runscoring walk to Eugenio Suarez.
Anderson struck out Scott Schebler but fell behind in the count, 3-0, to Tucker Barnhart and had to come in with a fastball that was blasted to deep left-center for a two-run double. That made it 4-0 and ended Anderson’s afternoon.
“I felt pretty good, actually,” Anderson said. “The two walks just kind of got me. I thought a couple of pitches were close. They must have been just off the plate.” BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Shaw has been the Brewers’ most consistent hitter but he entered the series in his first prolonged slump. He went hitless (0 for 12) on the recent home stand and was 6-for-48 (.125) since Aug. 16, dropping his batting average from .293 to .276.
“We’ve talked about how consistent Travis has been,” Counsell said.
“That’s the point of having depth in your lineup. That’s how you score runs. You have lots of guys who can produce runs until Travis can get some balls to fall or get out of the park.” STAT SHEET
How important is pitching? Entering the series, the Reds had scored 651 runs, 31 more than the Brewers. But the Brewers ranked sixth in the NL in pitching with a 4.04 ERA and the Reds were last by a good margin with a 5.27 ERA. TAKEAWAY
You have to hope this doesn’t hurt Hader’s confidence. He had been good for so long but now has surrendered homers in consecutive outings to lose games. That stuff happens but young players have to keep their chins up. RECORD
This year: 72-66 (39-32 home; 33-34 away)
Last year: 61-77 NEXT GAME
Tuesday: Brewers at Reds, 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee RHP Zach Davies (16-7, 3.85) vs. Cincinnati RHP Robert Stephenson (3-4, 5.52). TV: FS Wisconsin. Radio: AM-620.