This Week in Brewers Baseball: It's a Winning Week
For the first time this season, the Milwaukee Brewers had a week with more wins than losses. The caveat would be that they were playing teams worse than them (probably), and the Brewers still had to rally a few times to earn the +.500 mark this week. But hey, baby steps.
Series Recaps
Won 2 of 3 games at home against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (W-W-L)
Split 4 games on the road against he Cincinnati Reds (L-L-W-W)
This week's record: 4-3 (13-18 overall)
Three Up, Three Down
Aaron Hill
The Brewers' infielder was an easy choice this week as he went off on Saturday night, blasting 3 home runs, including a game-winning grand slam in the top of the 10th inning. Hill finished the game with 7 RBI and 5 runs scored in Milwaukee's 13-7 comeback victory.
For the week, Hill batted .400 with a .760 slugging percentage and 1.183 OPS. On Sunday, he extended his hitting streak to 9 games, the most for a Brewer this season. Early in the year, Hill had some bad luck on line drives being caught, so is this a regression to the mean or a hot (or lucky) week?
In looking at a larger sample, dating back to April 18 (18 games), Hill owns a .293 average, .534 slugging and an .847 OPS. In that time he's driven in 13 runs and scored 10, indicating he may actually be finding his old swing a bit.
Jonathan Lucroy
With the game-winning home run in the 8th and a caught stealing of speedster Billy Hamilton in the 9th, Lucroy essential took over the later frames to give the Brewers a 2nd straight come-from-behind win. He was on fire during the week with a .417 AVG, .481 OBP, .917 SLG and an incredible 1.398 OPS.
He cracked his first 3 home runs this week, including 1 in each of the last 2 games in Cincy. Luc also added 3 doubles as he tallied 7 RBI and 6 runs over the course of 7 games. He went 5-for-10 the past 2 contests and has upped his average from .268 to .327 overall since April 17. Is his trade value rising?
Chris Capuano
The veteran lefty was effective in his limited work this week, posting a 15.00 K/9 ratio while not allowing a run in 3 innings of relief. Capuano struck out 5 Reds in 2 frames on Thursday night, then picked up his first win of the season (and 1st with Milwaukee since 2010) with a scoreless 7th inning on Sunday.
Cappy has had an up-and-down year for the most part, but owns a 3.71 ERA and has filled the role admirably while pitchers recover from injury and develop in the minor leagues.
Pitchers Getting Ripped
We all know the struggles Brewers' pitchers have had to start the season, and while the overall numbers weren't as horrific this week, one thing stood out: They're giving up a lot of line drives. In fact, they allowed 25.1% of batted balls to be line drives (LD%) - worst in MLB this week.
Line drives are the most likely type of batted ball to become a hit, and can often end up as doubles or home runs, especially in hitters' parks. For the season, Milwaukee gives up the 8th-highest LD% in the NL at 20.8%. Maybe it's a positive they allowed so many rockets, but still won 4 games this week.
Tyler Thornburg
The life of a reliever is cruel and unfair. Thornburg didn't pitch poorly the whole week, just for two-thirds of an inning. Because he obviously pitches so few frames at a time, one bad outing torpedoes the overall numbers for the whole week.
He made 4 appearances this week, picking up a blown save and loss to go with a 9.82 ERA. Opponents had an .846 OPS against him. His poor outing came in the 8th inning against the Angels while holding a 1-run lead. Thornburg gave up 4 earned runs on 3 hits and a walk as the Brewers fell 7-3.
In fairness, the rest of the week was typical Thronburg with 3 scoreless frames and 5 strikeouts. He should be fine as long as he isn't overused.
Domingo Santana
It's no as much about his on-field production this week (0-for-7 with 5 strikeouts), but the fact that he wasn't getting on the field at all. Due to a right shoulder/lat injury, Santana started only 1 game as we was scratched from the starting lineup 3 different times.
He was able to pinch-hit in 3 games in Cincinnati, but he whiffed in all 3 appearances. The injury doesn't appear to be going away quickly, so it may be wise for the Brewers to put Santana on disabled list to ensure he recovers fully and that the club has a full roster of options.
Browsing the Box Scores
1) Brewers' batters own a .197 average with 2 outs in an inning, the lowest mark in MLB. The stat may be part fluke or randomness, but it's been noticeable in many of the games. With a minimum of 10 AB with 2 outs, Aaron Hill has the lowest average (.097) while Alex Presley has the best (.700).
2) Starting pitching is putting their offense into deep, early holes this year, giving up the most runs in the NL in the 1st inning (.903 runs/inning) and 3rd innings (1.258), while allowing the 2nd-most in the 2nd frame (0.677). That's nearly 3 runs per game in the first third of the contest.
3) Chris Carter has played in 30 games and has 30 hits on the season. Even better, his hits have a symmetry to them: 10 singles, 10 doubles and 10 home runs. Carter is on pace for 52 doubles and 52 HR - only Albert Belle in 1995 has had a 50 HR/50 double season in MLB history.
Looking Ahead...
Milwaukee heads to Miami for a 3-game series with the Marlins once again. They get ace Jose Fernandez in the first game and Adam Conley in game 2, who nearly no-hit the Brewers 10 days ago.
Then the Crew hosts the San Diego Padres in a 4-game weekend series. The Padres are currently 13-19 and play a 3-game series in Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs before traveling to Milwaukee.
Do Teams Fear Anyone in the Brewers Lineup?
The Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper was intentionally walked 3 times on Sunday by the Cubs. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers have been given an intentional free pass only 5 times this year - fewest in the NL.
Ryan Braun owns 2 of the intentional walks, while Scooter Gennett, Martin Maldonado and Alex Presley each have 1. Gennett and Maldonado's free passes came while batting in front of the pitcher, so those barely count.