By Adam Roberts – 10/1/2020
We knew the bullpen would be critical for the Milwaukee Brewers going into last night’s wild-card series opener against the Dodgers. And after starter Brent Suter gave up three runs on three hits in just an inning and two thirds, manager Craig Counsell was quickly charged with handling a playoff baseball game when his pitching rotation is riddled with injuries.
The four-man bullpen combination of Eric Yardley, Justin Topa, Freddy Peralta, and Drew Rasmussen actually pitched quite well, striking out five and giving up just one more run over 6 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the Dodger bullpen also came to play, with Julio Urias, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen sharing seven K’s over five innings of scoreless baseball. In the end, the lack of offensive production doomed the Brewers once again in the 4-2 loss; Christian Yelich and Avisail Garcia each had multiple hits, but other than an Orlando Arcia two-run shot in the 4th inning off of LA starter Walker Buehler there was no consistency at the plate.
To make matters worse, right fielder Ryan Braun had to exit the game early with a back strain that apparently happened during Sunday’s regular season finale against St. Louis but flared up last night. Counsell said Braun would be day-to-day, adding “I think everybody is at this point.” We’ll see as we get closer to first pitch tonight what Braun’s status is for Game Two.
Coverage tonight begins at 8:45pm on ESPN La Crosse 105.5, espnlacrosse.com, and TuneIn!