Big bats fail to deliver for Brewers

Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

The Milwaukee Brewers appeared ready to mount another furious comeback at Miller Park.

Already with three runs in against Joe Biagini in the fifth inning to close the deficit to a run, they had Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw coming to bat with a chance to take their first lead of the night.

Ryan Braun isn't happy after striking out with runners at second and third this week.

But Toronto manager John Gibbons countered with reliever Danny Barnes, and that was that. Both Braun and Shaw struck out on fastballs out of the zone, Barnes and three more relievers combined on four innings of hitless relief and the Blue Jays held on for a 4-3 victory at Miller Park.

"I give them credit. They pitched well," manager Craig Counsell said. "Their guy was good the first four innings. He was tough on us.

"In our big inning, we had a shot. We had Brauny and Travis up there. Barnes did a nice job against them."

BOX SCOREBlue Jays 4, Brewers 3

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Biagini had limited the Brewers to an Eric Thames single and two walks over the first four innings until Hernán Pérez, Manny Piña and Orlando Arcia all singled consecutively to cut Toronto's lead to 4-1.

Pinch-hitter Jesús Aguilar moved Piña and Arcia up with a groundout, and then Jonathan Villar delivered a two-RBI single to right that made it 4-3 to bring the heart of Milwaukee's order in Braun and Shaw to the plate.

Braun was playing in just his second game since being reinstated from the disabled list, but his track record as a run producer over the years is unquestioned. Throw in Shaw, who has a team-leading 34 runs batted in, and the Brewers appeared to be in perfect position to grab control back from the Blue Jays.

Gibbons' move to Barnes ended that thought, as the right-hander got both Braun and Shaw swinging to end the threat.

Braun had another chance in the seventh to tie the game or put the Brewers ahead after Villar drew a two-out walk and Thames was hit by a Ryan Tepera pitch, but he flew out to right to end his night at 0 for 3 with a walk.

Braun is now 0 for 8 with a walk and an RBI in his two games back from the DL.

"He's not swinging it like he's capable right now," Counsell said. "But he'll get there."

Shaw, meanwhile, fanned all four times he came to the plate for the dreaded golden sombrero.

The Brewers managed just five singles in the game and had virtually no success against the Blue Jays' bullpen, which allowed two walks and hit a batter while striking out eight.

"Joe Smith has been a pretty good reliever for a long time. He had a real nice inning," said Counsell of Toronto's eighth-inning choice. "We had a chance against Tepera, had a runner in scoring position. Barnes did a nice job and (Roberto) Osuna is a good pitcher.

"We put some runners on against a couple guys, but they did a nice job."

One bright spot was Villar, who had the two-run single, walk and three stolen bases. The three stolen bases matched his career high.

"The big thing with Jonny is just get on base," Counsell said. "That's No. 1, more than the stolen bases or anything. That alone will cause distractions for the other team.

"When he's getting on base two times a game, that's going to put Eric, Brauny and Travis in situations where the other team has to defend the steal and make pitches.

"That's what we're looking for."

Toronto grabbed a 4-0 lead against Milwaukee starter Jimmy Nelson, who surrendered two-spots in the second and the fifth.

An RBI single and an RBI groundout by the pitcher Biagini did the damage in the second, while Kendrys Morales crushed a two-out home run to 447 feet to center to cap Toronto's scoring.

He was pulled for Aguilar at only 88 pitches, but allowed eight hits and a walk with three strikeouts in falling to 2-3.

"Totally different game if I could take one pitch back," said Nelson. "But you can’t do that in this game."

Counsell said all things considered, Nelson's outing was solid.

"I thought Jimmy did good," Counsell said. "He made a bad pitch to the wrong guy, a guy that could really hurt him. He did a great job working out of that inning in the second, only giving up two runs.

"The home run to Morales ended up hurting."

The Brewers got four innings of scoreless relief out of Rob Scahill, Carlos Torres and Neftali Feliz. Feliz was the bright spot, retiring all six batters he faced to perhaps get himself back on track a bit after being removed as closer earlier in the month.

"He threw the ball well. That was good," Counsell said. "Part of it was I was trying to get him back out there for another inning. I think that helps guys sometimes when you go back out there after you've had a good inning. You can go back out there and kind of cement that.

"Hopefully, this is part of getting him on the right track and getting him going."