Offense has perked up but pitching staff has been the key to Brewers' winning streak

KANSAS CITY - Baseball managers get a lot of numbers thrown at them these days but Craig Counsell only needed to hear one late Wednesday night.

Fourteen.

That's how many runs the Brewers have allowed over their last eight games. Not coincidentally, they have won all eight of those games, outscoring the opposition, 45-14.

"That's the number, right there," Counsell said after the Brewers toppled the Kansas City Royals, 6-2, at Kauffman Stadium. "You're going to have a lot of success, allowing 14 runs in eight games.

"That's the important number, 14 runs."

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Not surprisingly, the entire pitching staff has contributed to the surge. Going back even farther, to the last 11 games, the starters are 7-1 with a 2.54 earned run average, holding opponents to a .212 batting average. 

And the bullpen has been silly good. With 3 1/3 more scoreless innings against the Royals, the relief corps stretched its streak to 28 in a row without allowing an earned run. Over that stretch, opponents have a mere 11 hits and six walks while logging 34 strikeouts.

And that's without closer Corey Knebel, who has been on the disabled list for three weeks with a hamstring injury. Many bullpens would have imploded upon losing a dominating closer, and there were some shaky ninth innings immediately after Knebel's injury, but since then it has been a lights-out unit.

"We get to the sixth (inning) with a lead and it's pretty much over," said third baseman Travis Shaw, who's recent surge has been a big factor in the offense picking up the pace as well.

"If we get down early, we know the bullpen is not going to give up a ton (of runs). We were down, 4-0, early to the Marlins but we chipped away and beat them because the bullpen just hasn't been giving up runs. 

"Early in the year, we weren't as consistent offensively, and were putting pressure on them to not give up anything. It's a lot easier when we can put up five, six runs every night. We're just never out of a game with a bullpen that keeps the score where it's at when they come into the game."

It certainly hasn't hurt that starter Jhoulys Chacin has made huge strides since the first two weeks of the season. In his first three starts, he allowed 19 hits, seven walks and 13 earned runs 13 2/3 innings, going 0-1 with an 8.56 ERA.

Over his last three outings, including a solid performance Wednesday night against the Royals, Chacin has allowed 13 hits, seven walks and three earned runs in 15 2/3 innings, going 2-0 with a 1.73 ERA. 

In his first three innings against the Royals, Chacin gave no meaning to the phrase "pounding the strike zone." He threw 30 pitches, 24 of which were strikes. Chacin was only at 65 pitches when Counsell removed him with two down in the sixth but he had started to play in some traffic and the manager decided it was time for his stellar bullpen to swing into action.

"(The Royals) were really aggressive," Chacin said. "They were swinging at the first pitch a lot, or the second pitch. I was trying to throw strikes and keep the ball down. I was commanding my fastball well, and getting quick outs. I feel my mechanics are getting better."

As for the work being done on a nightly basis by the relievers, Chacin said, "With the bullpen we have, if (the starters) throw six innings, we're in great shape. If we have the lead, we have a good chance to win the ball game. That's why we've won eight games in a row."

Relievers have been picking each other up for some time now, and that trend never was more evident than in the eighth inning, when Jacob Barnes found himself in a first-and-third, no-out jam. Barnes popped up Whit Merrifield, then turned it over to strikeout sensation Josh Hader, who whiffed the Royals' best hitters, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez.

Hader overmatched Moustakas with a 94 mph fastball just off the outside corner that was impossible to lay off, then froze Perez with a 93 mph fastball on the inside corner, at the knees. Neither hitter had a chance, and it's no coincidence that the Brewers are 10-0 in games in which Hader has appeared. 

"I wish I could throw like Hader," Chacin said with a laugh. "He's just too good. That was the ball game, right there."

Watching from third base, Shaw could only shake his head as Hader's strikeout numbers reached an astounding 31 in 15 ⅓ innings.

"He does that to everybody," Shaw said. "I've never faced him, even in live batting practice. It just seems like he hides the ball really well. Guys don't see it."

Nitpickers will point out that the Brewers' winning streak has been built against three last-place teams — the Reds, Marlins and Royals, all of which appear headed for truly dismal seasons. But the schedules are virtually the same for every club in the NL Central, so Counsell saw no need for apologies.

"We're playing well," he said. "You play the teams that are on your schedule. I don't care who you're playing. You're trying to gather wins. That's important.

"You've got to earn the wins; you've got to earn them every day. Who they're against, they count the same, as far as I knows. We're earning wins, and the guys are doing a good job of it."