Ashby available for Game 5? 'Yes,' says Crew's pitching coordinator

Will Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby be available out of the bullpen in Game 5 of the World Series?

Manager Pat Murphy did not tip his hand in his pregame availability.

“Possibly,” Murphy said on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before first pitch.

“Yes,” Brewers pitching coordinator Jim Henderson said shortly after that.

Ashby recorded seven outs in relief in Milwaukee’s 4-3, 12-inning loss in Game 4 on Tuesday, running his playoff scoreless streak to 18 innings. That passed Andrew Miller for the longest in a single postseason by a reliever, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Ashby breezed through the ninth and the 10th, but his velocity dipped when he took the mound in the 11th to begin his third inning of work. The fastest of three sinkers that Ashby threw to Rays second baseman Richie Palacios came in at 96 mph. Ashby’s sinker is averaging 97.8 mph in the postseason.

Ashby struck out Palacios, but Murphy – who noted after the game that the Brewers had to be mindful of player health – promptly summoned right-hander Antonio Senzatela to replace Ashby.

“I feel good,” Ashby said after the game. “It’s probably just a part of throwing a lot of innings.”

Murphy said that Ashby will never tell him that he is not available to pitch. So, how does the manager come to a decision?

“You just have to gauge the stuff,” Murphy said. “William [Contreras] helps us, too. He’s been extraordinary. But we know him so well. So, if you’re watching him, you can kind of tell – that’s not quite as crisp, or he doesn’t have the command the same way.”

Ashby has appeared in nine of the Brewers’ 12 postseason games, an invaluable anchor for a lights-out bullpen. He has recorded at least five outs in eight of those appearances.

Ashby is no stranger to pitching on consecutive days. He has done so in all three of Milwaukee's postseason series, including the Fall Classic. Ashby notched five huge outs in World Series Game 1 on Friday and climbed the hill again the next night, recording five more outs to close Game 2.

“If you’re not going to hurt yourself and you say you can pitch, you can pitch,” Henderson said. “We’re not going to put anybody’s health or career in jeopardy, but if you feel like you can go throw the baseball across the plate at a good ability and you’re not going to put your long-term career in jeopardy, and you’re here to win a championship, then you pitch.”

The complication is that Ashby always says he can pitch. Many sinkerballers feel that way, that the more they pitch, the better their stuff works. But in this case, his long relationships with Henderson and pitching coach Chris Hook play a significant role in trust-building.

So does experience.

“You watch his catch play, you watch how guys go about it, and if something looks off, then you ask some questions and dig some more,” Henderson said. “If they play catch at a fairly regular tempo and speed, then you can trust their word. They’ve done it all at this point, right? It’s not like this is a crazy uptick in what they’ve done.”