Crew follows up clinch with MLB-best 95th win ... but there's 'work to do'

PITTSBURGH -- Kudos to PNC Park’s visitors' clubhouse manager Kevin Conrad and his crew, because when the Brewers showed up for work on Wednesday, there were no hints of the big party that had taken place the night before.

For the National League Central champs, it was back to business.

“We’ve got work to do,” manager Pat Murphy said.

The Brewers’ work continued with a 5-4 win over the Pirates, with Logan Henderson delivering his 22nd straight start of three or fewer runs to begin his career, Christian Yelich putting Milwaukee on top for good with a two-run single in the seventh, and relievers Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill closing out victory No. 95 in emphatic fashion.

The Brewers (95-57) did not look like a team with a hangover, either literal or proverbial. They looked like a team that, with 10 games remaining in the regular season, sits two victories shy of matching the franchise record set just last season, and needs to play .500 baseball or better the rest of the way to become the NL Central’s first 100-win team since the 2016 Cubs.

“With two weeks left of the season, we’re still playing,” Megill said. “We’re not resting people. We’re playing tooth and nail. I would probably expect nothing less for the couple of weeks coming up.”

• Postseason FAQ: What's next for Brewers?

Besides the obvious steps related to wins and losses -- clinch a first-round bye, clinch the NL’s top seed, clinch MLB’s top seed -- the Brewers have other tasks at hand.

Pitching

The most important decisions are related to lining up the starters and relievers in such a way that they are rested but also sharp when the postseason arrives. The Brewers capped Jacob Misiorowski at five innings and 82 pitches on Tuesday before Henderson threw 87 pitches in five innings on Wednesday, departing with the game tied at 3 after Brandon Lowe’s two-run homer in the fifth.

After that duo comes some question marks. The Brewers tweaked their rotation to have slumping left-hander Kyle Harrison, who has allowed 17 earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in his last three outings, start Thursday’s series finale against the Pirates. Dustin May was bumped to Friday night in Baltimore.

Figuring out whether Harrison can factor in some capacity in October is a high priority.

“I think it lined up best for us to do it this way,” Murphy said. “We’ve got enough pitching behind him to protect him if he gets off to a slow start.”

In the bullpen, the Brewers will prioritize getting left-hander DL Hall more high-leverage work in light of his recent ascent. Lefty JoJo Romero and righty Antonio Senzatela also need those types of close-and-late situations, said Murphy, who even used left-handed starter Shane Drohan against the heart of Pittsburgh’s order at a pivotal moment of the seventh inning on Wednesday.

Drohan did the job by inducing a pair of ground balls, including one from Bryan Reynolds for an inning-ending double play.

“Coming into a tight spot felt good,” Drohan said. “Wherever they want my arm, I’m going to do it. I’ll be ready to execute.”

That’s the right attitude for this time of year.

“At the same time of trying not to coast,” Murphy said, “you have to kind of find out about some other people and how they’re going to respond to things. That’s what it’s going to take to beat the best.”

Hitting

The Brewers don’t hit a lot of home runs. Murphy doesn’t believe that a team has to hit a lot of home runs to win postseason games. They won with their own style on Wednesday, with four straight two-out singles from the bottom of the batting order in a two-run second inning and then a similarly pesky rally in the seventh. Milwaukee went walk, single, walk, fielder’s choice ahead of Yelich’s two-strike, opposite-field line drive for the lead.

“I mean, we can’t start trying harder,” Murphy said. “We can fill ourselves with confidence and belief, but we’ve got to now look at the things that make us good. They’ve got to be hyperaware and hypervigilant about the things that help the team win, and the things that are critical for them.

“Sometimes that can be boring. Sometimes it can be repetitious. But we’ve got to keep them sharp.”

Defense

Jake Bauers started in right field on Wednesday, a preferred spot against certain pitchers because it frees up first base for Andrew Vaughn. But Bauers has been slowed in the second half by lower body bumps and bruises, most notably a case of shin splints in both legs. Platinum Glove Award-winning shortstop Brice Turang has been playing the second half with tendinitis in his left knee that’s most apparent when he has the throw on the brakes when running the bases. Catcher William Contreras just became the first catcher in Brewers history to top 1,000 innings behind the plate in three straight seasons.

Surely, the club would like to find some spots for rest.

Turang isn’t asking for it.

“I like to play,” he said.

So, the Brewers will keep playing.

“Keep pecking away the way we do,” Murphy said. “It’s not always the conventional way, but it’s the way we do it.”