Jimmy Nelson digs deep, gives Brewers' bullpen a breather

How best to help a struggling bullpen?

Throw a complete game.

That’s just what Jimmy Nelson did on Sunday afternoon, highlighting the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 Father’s Day victory over the San Diego Padres at Miller Park.

A day after relievers Carlos Torres and Oliver Drake combined to give up three homers in the 10th and 11th innings of a deflating 7-5 loss, Nelson took care of things all by himself.

The right-hander limited the Padres to six hits, one unearned run and two walks to go with 10 strikeouts in a 118-pitch outing that easily qualified as the best of his four-year career.

“This is a guy picking everybody up and giving those (bullpen) guys a day off,” said manager Craig Counsell. “That’s what you need some days. That’s what big-time performance does – not only wins you the game, but gives guys rest.

“That’s why it’s a big-time performance."

While the late homers and blown leads attributed to the bullpen tend to infuriate Brewers fans, Nelson's appreciation is deeper and his memory longer. He viewed his performance Sunday as a way to return the favor to the guys that helped him and his fellow starters while they were struggling in the early going.

"I can't imagine having to throw every day like those guys," Nelson said. "It was definitely nice to get those guys a day. They were really helping the starters out the first month of the season, so being able to give those guys a blow was nice."

Nelson faced a modicum of trouble over the first four innings before the Padres got to him for their only run in the fifth.

BOX SCORE:Brewers 2, Padres 1

RELATED:Nelson leads Brewers to rare Father's Day victory

NOTES:Shaw's first Father's Day provides hope

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules

Cory Spangenberg opened with a dribbler to the left of the mound that Nelson pounced on, but his throw was wide left and sailed down the right-field line. Spangenberg advanced to second and scored a batter later on Erick Aybar's single.

With no outs at that point, the trouble could have continued. But Nelson quickly put the clamps on San Diego by inducing three straight ground-ball outs.

Milwaukee's offense got Nelson the lead in the sixth on home runs by Hernán Pérez and Manny Piña. Then Nelson worked his way out of a two-on, one-out situation in the seventh and then got a key 4-6-3 double-play grounder from Yangervis Solarte after Wil Myers had singled to end the eighth.

Solarte provided a couple tense seconds earlier in the at-bat. Having homered three times already in the series, including twice on Saturday, Solarte crushed a long fly ball down the right-field line that appeared as though it might stay fair.

But the ball hooked foul, and shortly thereafter Solarte was doubled up.

"It was close enough," said Piña, Nelson's catcher.

With the Brewers' offense unable to tack on any insurance runs, Nelson strode out to the mound for the ninth inning with his pitch count at 108 and the crowd of 34,518 in full throat.

It was a special moment for the 28-year-old.

"We have unbelievable fans here," he said. "It was pretty cool going out there and they played my walk-out song, which was kind of neat. But at the same time, you have to take a step back and not let your adrenaline take over.

"You have to relax and don't try to do too much, try not to overthrow and execute your pitches."

Nelson wasted no time, punching out Hunter Renfroe on three pitches. Spangenberg followed by lining out to Eric Thames at first base, then three pitches later Aybar had fanned and Nelson was bouncing off the mound with an emphatic fist pump.

The complete game was the Brewers' first since Taylor Jungmann threw one on July 11, 2015, in a 7-1 victory at Dodger Stadium, and the first at home since Kyle Lohse threw one on June 1, 2014, in shutting out the Chicago Cubs, 9-0.

Nelson's season and career high for innings coming into Sunday was eight, accomplished five times and most recently June 2 against the Dodgers. His season high for pitches was on May 28 against the Diamondbacks.

"It's really nice," said Nelson, referring to the complete game. He improved to 5-3 while dropping his earned-run average to 3.39.

"That ninth inning is a big inning. Counsell showed confidence in (Manny and me) and let us go deep. Really, it was a lot of good defense and double plays. All-around good defense and timely hitting.

"Me and Manny were on the same page pretty much the whole game. When we weren't, he would come out and we'd get on the same page. We had a good game plan."

Said Piña: "I give him all the credit. I just put down the fingers and he's ready to throw the ball down. He competed every inning."

Since taking over as manager in early May of 2015, Counsell has tended to err on the side of caution with his starting pitchers as the games wear on.

As a result, Jungmann had thrown the only complete game of Counsell's tenure – until Sunday.

Now Counsell gets to start a four-game series with division rival Pittsburgh with a fresh bullpen, thanks to Nelson's outing.

"Jimmy pitched very well. He certainly got better as the game went along," he said. "That's why I kept putting him back out there. I felt like he got better as the game went. The command improved. He was pounding the zone for strikes.

"He earned his way out there the last couple of innings, that's for sure."