Lefty Brent Suter assumed unlikely hero role for Brewers, on the mound and at the plate

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Brewers pitcher Brent Suter entered the game in the first inning after starter Wade Miley was injured. Suter pitched 4 2/3 innings allowing two earned runs.

As baseball players go, Brent Suter is practically a mythical creature. Sort of like Sidd Finch.

At one moment, the Harvard graduate is flying off the mound to make a sprawling catch of a bunt, then throwing from the seat of his pants to double off a runner at second before sprinting to the dugout as if racing Usain Bolt.

The next moment, Suter is hitting a 433-foot home run off Corey Kluber. That's right. Suter, the Brewers' 31st-round draft pick out of Harvard, with five career hits -- all singles -- crushed a no-doubter to center off one of the best pitchers in the game.

With Hollywood so enraptured with super heroes these days, Suter certainly has a future in the movies.

"Raptor strength," teammate Travis Shaw said of Suter becoming the first pitcher ever to take Kluber out of the yard.

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Dinosaurs once roamed the earth and Suter certainly is leaving his footprints in unusual ways. Merely to make it to the big leagues with an 85-mph fastball was a feat in itself but what Suter did Tuesday night in the Brewers' 3-2 victory over Cleveland at Miller Park won't soon be forgotten.

For beginners, Suter had to come in cold turkey after starter Wade Miley exited in the first inning with an oblique strain. Having been shuffled off to bullpen duty when Miley joined the team the previous week, Suter gave the Brewers 4⅔ gritty innings, allowing five hits and two runs, on home runs by Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor.

"For him to eat up that many innings against that lineup over there, that was probably the biggest key of the night," Shaw said. "Suter. He's something else."

These kinds of situations are made for Suter, who never flinches when given different assignments or disappointments. Lots of players say they'll do whatever it takes to help the team win but Suter actually means it, every time.

Of the first-pitch fastball that he hammered out to center field off Kluber in the third inning, which proved to be the winning run, Suter said, "I went up there, saw the ball up a little bit, put the bat on the ball and after that it was just Cloud 9, like 'Angels in the Outfield.' It was fun."

Suter ran around the bases at a pace that would have lapped David Ortiz three times, then ducked into the dugout for an appropriately raucous celebration. Times Square on New Year's Eve has nothing on the Brewers' bench when someone goes deep in a big situation.

"It was a lot of fun," said Suter, who hadn't homered since high school. "There was confetti flying. Everybody was trying to take my helmet off. A lot of raptor noises. It was great. One of those things you'll never forget."

"It was a crazy night but at the same time that's what I'm there for," Suter added. "I'm there as a long guy in the bullpen to pick up the team when the starter goes down early. So, I was prepared and mentally locked in as soon as Wade showed signs of discomfort.

"But the home run and stuff, who knows? That's just one of those moments that's only baseball. Only baseball can produce those types of things. Like I said, I'll never forget it."

The season is not quite one-fourth complete but Suter was asked where his home run off Kluber would rank among unlikely events after all is said and done.

"I'm not sure exactly where but I'm going to guess Top 5," he said with a broad grin.

The only downer was the Brewers' casualty list growing by two more players. After the game, manager Craig Counsell said Miley was heading to the DL with his oblique strain after a mere two starts. Nick Franklin, who strained a quad muscle running to first base in the fourth inning, likely will join him after being called up earlier in the day.

It was a day that already had begun on sobering notes with the news that catcher Stephen Vogt had a career-threatening shoulder injury and prospect Mauricio Dubon was done for the year with a torn ACL.

"We've lost a lot of guys," Shaw said. "We've dealt with a lot here in the first five weeks of the season. We're staying afloat. Guys are doing their job. We'll just keep doing it. Next man up."