Notes: Brewers swap out Keon Broxton for Xavier Cedeño on their NLCS roster
The Milwaukee Brewers made just one change Friday for their National League Championship Series roster, going from 11 to 12 pitchers in a nod to the best-of-seven series.
The extra pitcher is left-handed reliever Xavier Cedeño, who gives the Brewers another pitcher to match up against left-handed hitters in the late innings. Cedeño replaced Keon Broxton, who was one of three extra outfielders on the NL Division Series roster.
"We add another left-hander that we think matches up well in kind of a number of situations," manager Craig Counsell said. "So, we add extra potential outs.
"Then the sacrifice is we're losing a base runner, a defender, and we're losing a hitter (in Broxton). We're going to use a lot of pitching this series and we're going to make a lot of pitching changes.
"It probably will cost us a pitcher at-bat somewhere along the line more than it would have having that extra guy. So that's one of the sacrifices we're making, too."
The Dodgers also added a lefty reliever to their roster, Julio Urías, who missed much of the season with injuries. So, they covered themselves for late-inning matchups as well.
The Brewers are still carrying three pitchers who did not see action in the NLDS: Junior Guerra, Freddy Peralta and Gio Gonzalez, who made the Game 1 start Friday night against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
Cedeño didn't accrue a record but compiled a 1.13 earned run average and WHIP of 1.25 in 15 appearances (eight innings) since the Brewers acquired him via trade from the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31.
Overall, he is 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA and WHIP of 1.26 in 48 appearances between Chicago and Milwaukee. Cedeño's splits are almost even, limiting left-handed hitters to a .207 average and right-handers to a .212 average.
Broxton saw sparing action in the NLDS but did make an impact, homering in the ninth inning of the Brewers' 6-0 Game 3 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Without Broxton, the Brewers still have Domingo Santana and Curtis Granderson in reserve as true outfielders along with utility man Hernán Pérez, who started at second base in Game 1.
Here is the Brewers' entire NLCS roster:
Catchers (2): Erik Kratz, Manny Piña.
Infielders (6): Jesús Aguilar, Orlando Arcia, Mike Moustakas, Hernán Pérez, Jonathan Schoop, Travis Shaw.
Outfielders (5): Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain, Curtis Granderson, Domingo Santana, Christian Yelich.
Pitchers (12): RH Corbin Burnes, LH Xavier Cedeño, RH Jhoulys Chacín, LH Gio Gonzalez, RH Junior Guerra, LH Josh Hader, RH Jeremy Jeffress, RH Corey Knebel, LH Wade Miley, RH Freddy Peralta, RH Joakim Soria, RH Brandon Woodruff.
Head's up: Counsell played his cards close to the vest down the stretch when it came to his team's "initial out-getter," which made his decision to announce Gonzalez, Wade Miley as the Game 2 starter and Jhoulys Chacín as the Game 3 starter on Thursday a little unusual.
Counsell then quickly reminded reporters that Chacín could be called upon to pitch in Game 1 if the situation arose – a statement that underscored how the approach truly is an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Miley said he and the rest of his pitching counterparts are kept in the loop as much as possible by Counsell and are generally prepared for any possibility.
"I'm not sure when Craig tells you all anything," Miley said. "He kind of gives us a little heads up, 'Hey, you might be doing this.' Nothing is definite, but I think we've kind of learned to adapt to that in a way, just kind of be ready to go."
Miley last pitched Sunday in the Brewers' NLDS Game 3 clincher against the Rockies, his first postseason appearance. He took a no-decision after a 4 2/3-inning, 64-pitch outing, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out a pair.
While the chances are good he again won't make it past the fifth inning on Saturday, Miley just focuses on pitching as well as he can for as long as he's allowed.
"We just try to go out and get as many outs as we can and leave that up to Counsell and the coaching staff to make that decision when they want to turn it over to the bullpen," he said. "So obviously you watch the previous game, and you see how it goes, and if those guys are fresh or not.
"But in the end, we're just trying to get as many outs as possible, and Counsell will let us know when we're done."
Uecker works the room: Beyond the usual manager and player interviews conducted in the media room prior to the game, the Brewers had Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker come in. They should have charged admission because Uecker always leaves you wanting more.
Uecker, 83, said he stays relevant with people of all ages, including players, by doing what he does best.
“I like to make people laugh,” Uecker said. “I’ve gone through that with my kids: ‘Why do you do that? Why do you talk the way you do?’ To me, it’s funny. I don’t know; it doesn’t bother me.
“As a matter of fact, the other day when we were in Colorado and (Rockies reliever) Seunghwan Oh came into the game with his interpreter, after they finished talking on the mound, I said (on the air) if I was a hitter here, I would probably face the interpreter. Seunghwan Oh would go to the dugout. I don’t know why I think of stuff like that. That’s another thing.”
Because of his hilarious turn as broadcaster Harry Doyle in the “Major League” movies – “The third one stunk. It was really bad,” Uecker admitted – there was an online fan petition to get Uecker to call the 2016 World Series between the Indians and Cubs. He said Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck invited him to at least sit in and do a few innings but Uecker turned it down out of respect for the game.
“I didn’t want to do anything that would make fun of the World Series,” he said. “’Major League’ was a lot of fun to do and everything, but it was not the right place for me to be and do any kind of play-by-play. I would never do something like that. The movie was a movie, and the World Series is the World Series.”