Brewers' road trip was successful overall, but difficult for Boone Logan

MINNEAPOLIS – Boone Logan’s tenure with the Milwaukee Brewers has been a rough one thus far.

Signed in the off-season to provide a veteran, left-handed presence in the bullpen, Logan has instead battled injury and inconsistency since the end of spring training.

More trouble surfaced for him Sunday afternoon, when he gave up a game-turning, two-run single in the eighth inning of a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

“He’s struggled so far, there’s no question,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s only been 10 days, but we haven’t seen the swing and miss on the slider from left-handers.

“That’s the thing you’re waiting to see.”

Logan, in his 13th year in the major leagues, took over for rookie Taylor Williams in the eighth inning of a 1-1 game. Williams set the stage for trouble by walking Brian Dozier – the Twins’ most dangerous hitter – after getting ahead in the count, 0-2.

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Logan walked the left-handed Max Kepler on five pitches, then saw Eddie Rosario’s swinging bunt move the runners into scoring position for switch-hitter Eduardo Escobar. Counsell followed by calling for an intentional walk of Escobar to load the bases with another left-handed hitter, Logan Morrison, up next.

Two pitches into the at-bat, Morrison hammered a 96-mph fastball high off the wall in right-center. Dozier and Kepler scored to give the Twins a two-run cushion before Logan closed out the inning with strikeouts of Mitch Garver and Robbie Grossman.

It was an inning that had played itself out once previously in a hauntingly similar fashion earlier in the Brewers' 10-game trip. With the Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks engaged in a 1-1 game at Chase Field, Williams issued a leadoff walk in the eighth and then was followed by Logan, who eventually gave up the go-ahead run on an RBI single.

“It’s similar,” Counsell acknowledged. “It’s a leadoff walk, and then we’ve got a tough inning ahead of us.”

Williams took the blame for getting the ball rolling in both instances.

"It really hurts when you give them free bases like that," he said. "That’s what’s hurt me the last two games, and it’s something I’ve got to get over the hump on if I want to pitch in those situations."

That appearance in Arizona was just the third of the season for Logan, who missed the first 37 games with a left triceps strain he suffered in the final week of Cactus League play.

His fourth came Friday against the Twins, and it ended in similarly frustrating fashion for him as he allowed a two-run home run to Kepler in a game the Brewers went on to win.

In five appearances (3⅓ innings), Logan has compiled an earned run average of 8.10 and a WHIP of 3.00. And with how well Milwaukee’s bullpen has performed as a whole, any prolonged struggles by its members are going to stick out like a sore thumb.

Logan was asked if he’s still feeling his way since returning from the disabled list.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” he said. “Honestly, I feel pretty sharp right now. I just think it’s a couple minor adjustments I need to make against lefties. At the end of the day I need to get those outs. I’ve got one job to do and I haven’t really been doing it against lefties at all.

“It’s a small sample size. I’m confident I’ll turn it around. But trying to figure it out in a tight ballgame in the eighth isn’t ideal. I’ve just got to find a way to get outs.”

Logan has thrown his fastball more than his slider since returning, a marked difference from last season, when just over 60% of his pitches with the Cleveland Indians were sliders.

“It’s something I’ve got to go back and look at,” Logan said. “I feel healthy, I feel strong. There’s nothing in the physical aspect of it. I think it’s just minor tweaks. I could sit here and give you excuses left and right, but I’ve just got to make my pitches, stay behind the ball, stay through it and trust it.”

For the first time in recent memory the Brewers have a wealth of left-handers in the bullpen with Josh Hader and Dan Jennings as well as swingman Brent Suter joining Logan.

The Brewers are paying Logan $2.5 million this season. But with the team playing as well as any in the National League of late and plenty of late-inning options, all eyes will be on how quickly the 33-year-old can turn things around.

The end of Sunday's game notwithstanding, the Brewers finished their trip with a solid 7-3 record -- one that might have been even more impressive had things broken a little differently.

"That’s a hell of a road trip for a 10-gamer, and a couple of those losses are thanks to me," Logan said. "We could possibly have done a little better than that."

Added Counsell: "I don’t analyze 7-3 other than we had a good trip. We won three series. If you win three series in a row on the road, you feel like you’re doing your job. You move on to the next one."