There’s no need to look back
Brewers can't fret about games that got away
Before the Milwaukee Brewers took the field Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium for Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, a scout from another majorleague club offered his assessment of where they should have stood in the postseason.
“The Brewers should already be in the World Series,” he said. “They should have won all four games (played to that point).”
Instead, the NLCS stood at 2-2 that day, and the Brewers would be pushed to the brink of elimination by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who pulled away to a 5-2 victory to win for the third time in four games.
In suggesting the Brewers already should have been making plans for the Fall Classic, that scout referred to their 4-3 loss in Game 2 and 13-inning, 2-1 defeat in Game 4. The Brewers led, 3-0, entering the seventh inning of Game 2 before the Dodgers rallied for two runs that inning and two more in the eighth on Justin Turner’s decisive two-run homer off reliever Jeremy Jeffress.
That painful defeat marked only the fourth time in 89 games, including the postseason, in which the Brewers lost when taking a lead to the eighth, a tribute to their deep and talented relief corps.
Saying the Brewers should have won Game 4 was a bit sketchier, but the point was that their pitching staff strung together 11 consecutive scoreless innings from the second through 12th innings, which should have been enough to scratch out a victory. Instead, the Brewers scored just one run
in the fifth inning in a woeful offensive display, eventually losing on Cody Bellinger’s run-scoring single with two down in the 13th.
That proved to be the swing game in the series for the Dodgers, who pulled away with late runs against the Brewers’ bullpen in Game 5 to close within one victory of a second consecutive trip to the World Series. Needing to win the final two games of the series Friday and Saturday to advance to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982, the Brewers can’t afford to waste time on the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” of Games 2 and 4.
In going 1-2 in the three games in Los Angeles, the Brewers scored only seven runs as the team fell into an offensive malaise throughout the lineup. Of course, the Dodgers’ strong pitching staff had something to say about it, but the fact remains the Brewers need the bats to perk up or they’ll be packing up.
“We were unable to score enough runs. I think that was the bottom line of the three games (in L.A.),” manager Craig Counsell said. “They’ve done a good job of holding us down offensively.
“I know you’re going to play ‘what if ’ we could have captured another one of these games, but we’re still going home and have a chance with this thing, with a bunch of (pitchers) in really good shape.”
Neither team has done much offensively in the NLCS – both have scored a total of 16 runs – but the Brewers’ bats were particularly quiet in the last two games, scoring only three runs in 22 innings. They are batting .219 as a team with only one truly hot hitter among the regulars – shortstop Orlando Arcia, batting .316 with two homers and three RBI.
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who struggled in Game 1, looked more like a three-time Cy Young Award winner in Game 5, limiting the Brewers to three hits and one run over seven innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
“They’ve got a good pitching staff over there,” centerfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “But as a team, as an offense, we just haven’t been clicking. We’ve got to find a way.
“It’s not over. We’re going to go home and battle. We know we’ll have the crowd behind us. We have to take every at-bat like it’s our last, which it could be. Regardless of the situation, we have to go out and perform.”
With a strong group of left-handed pitchers, the Dodgers have done a particularly good job of controlling the Brewers’ left-handed bats. Mike Moustakas is 2 for 21 (.095) with no RBI and Christian Yelich is 3 for 20 (.150), also with no RBI. Travis Shaw has done a bit better with a .250 average (3 for 12), a home run and one RBI.
“It’s a tough game,” Cain said. “You saw (Yelich) flat-out dominate all year. Now, he’s struggling a little bit. We expect him to bounce out of it. We’ve all been struggling. It’s not just him. We’ve got to find a way. We’ve got to go home and regroup.”
After some gamesmanship in Game 5, the Brewers believe they’re in good shape on the pitching front for two games in Milwaukee, if they can stretch the series that far. Wade Miley, who faced only one batter in Game 5 to get the Dodgers to set their lineup against a lefty, will return in Game 6 on Friday in what amounts to regular rest. Jhoulys Chacín, the most consistent pitcher in the rotation all season, would be ready for Game 7 on Saturday, if necessary.
“We’ve got two starters lined up and we’ve got a bullpen that’s going to get a day off (Thursday), and some of our guys are going to get multiple days off, and be ready to go in a two-game stretch where we can use them,” Counsell said.
“We’re sitting in a very good spot, to me, going home for Game 6. And we have a great opportunity.”