Failure to protect leads, heavy usage have put Brewers' bullpen in double jeopardy

Tom Haudricourt
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

ST. LOUIS - Nothing gets fans more riled at their manager than how he handles, or in their minds, mishandles the bullpen.

Of course, that's only when those moves don't work. 

If "X" didn't work, you should have used "Y," dummy. And vice versa. The second-guessing comes faster than a bullet train in Germany when leads are frittered away in the last inning, or innings.

But there are two things, above all else, that many irate fans don't seem to get:

1. Not everybody can pitch the ninth inning. 

2. Every reliever is not available for duty every day.

If you don't believe No. 1, then you haven't been watching the Brewers since closer Corey Knebel went on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. On three different occasions, relievers tried to protect one-run leads in the ninth and failed. Infield defense was an accessory to the crime in a loss to the Cubs but the fact remains that Knebel has been badly missed.

As for item No. 2, if every reliever could pitch every day, you'd only need two or three all season. They wouldn't be able to brush their teeth or comb their hair by Memorial Day because of arm fatigue, but would-be managers don't seem to care much about that.

"We've covered a lot of innings in the bullpen, so we're putting guys in different places now," manager Craig Counsell said after the latest failure Tuesday night.

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Before we detail the heinous events of the Brewers' 5-3, 11-inning loss to St. Louis at Busch Stadium, we must back-track to the previous evening. Reliever Matt Albers couldn't protect a one-run lead in the ninth, and when the Brewers went back on top in the 10th, he pitched another inning to secure the victory.

So, Albers wasn't available Tuesday night. Neither was the Brewers' most dominant reliever, Josh Hader, who threw 30 pitches the previous evening in a brilliant outing and must be protected like money under the mattress.

When starter Brent Suter had trouble getting through the batting order a third time, an ongoing issue, Counsell went to reliever Oliver Drake with hopes of getting a couple of innings covered. But Drake couldn't throw strikes when he first took the mound, and walked in the tying run before recovering.

Jeremy Jeffress got a big out to finish the seventh inning, so Counsell called on rookie right-hander Taylor Williams, whose raw talent currently eclipses his experience level. Williams blew away the Cardinals in the eighth, striking out three hitters, so Counsell sent him back out after Domingo Santana's RBI single in the ninth put the Brewers on top, 2-1.

"I sent him back out for the ninth because he had a great eighth inning," Counsell said. "If there was any trouble, I liked Jacob (Barnes) shorter in that inning because he's been worked pretty hard. I thought a shorter stint would be good for him."

Continuing a theme that eventually led to the loss, Williams walked the first hitter he faced, pinch-hitter Tommy Pham. When he was bunted to second, Counsell summoned Barnes, who has been nothing but jinxed since Knebel's injury.

Barnes threw not one but two wild pitches during the same at-bat to Dexter Fowler, allowing Pham to score the tying run. Barnes missed horribly with both pitches, giving catcher Jett Bandy no chance (starting catcher Manny Pina exited with a calf strain, which could lead to big problems in the coming days).

Asked if Barnes pressed when uncorking those really wild, wild pitches, Counsell said, "I wouldn't say that. There's execution of pitches. He just pulled two pitches. There are some weird-looking pitches out there in the cold weather, every once in a while. I don't think it's a function of trying too hard."

Again, the Brewers went on top in the 10th on an RBI single by Orlando Arcia, who is making a habit of late heroics. This time, newcomer J.J. Hoover got the call to close out the Cardinals and was in great position to do so when he retired the first two hitters.

But, inexcusably, Hoover walked Yairo Munoz, who has one hit in 12 at-bats this season (.083) and should have been an easy out. Jose Martinez, playing on a bad wheel after a first-base collision with Lorenzo Cain the previous evening, singled and Greg Garcia did as well, tying the game. Yes, it was a soft looper to right but the sin here was walking Munoz with two outs. 

"From the bullpen's perspective, the walks kept hurting us," Counsell said. "Oliver's walk. Jacob, not a walk but the wild pitches. Then, J.J. the two-out walk to Munoz."

At that point, the Brewers no longer could dodge bullets. Hoover came back out for the 11th and it was quickly over, with Paul DeJong collecting an infield hit and Matt Carpenter blasting a hanging curveball out to right for a game-winning home run.

"It just leaked maybe a little bit over the middle (of the plate)," Hoover said of the hammered pitch. "I think he was kind of sitting on it, too. I like to go to my curveball, back door, to lefties and I have a lot of success with it but I think it might have just leaked over a little bit and he was able to get out and pull it.

"The biggest mistake of the night was walking Munoz. "Other than that, it was a lot of weak contact until Carpenter's (homer)."

All of this put Counsell in the worse sort of double jeopardy entering Wednesday's matinee, with a bullpen unable to protect late leads and now gassed from so being overworked. 

"We've asked a lot down there," Counsell said. "We keep putting them in one-run, close situations. We survived for 11 innings. We've asked a lot of them."

This can't go on. If the starters are going to keep forcing the relievers to cover three and four innings on a regular basis, the bullpen is going to blow sky-high, particularly with Knebel out for more than a month. 

"The ninth inning is harder," Counsell said. "The other team is going to pull out all the stops, strategically and personnel-wise. The last three outs are the hardest outs, no question about it. We know that.

"What's important for us is that, as much as anything, we've asked so much from the bullpen, we've got to rest guys. That's what's going to put us in some funky spots, from day to day.

"We have the guys to close games. But we've got to make sure they're in a good position to do it."