Drohan's uncharacteristic start spoils Brewers' usual path to victory

MILWAUKEE -- On paper, giving the Brewers’ pitching staff an immediate four-run lead to work with seems like the perfect recipe to guarantee an easy victory.

Milwaukee’s hurlers have combined to put together some of the best numbers in the Majors this year. And after the Brewers plated four runs by the second inning Friday night against the Twins, it wouldn’t have been a leap to assume they had the series opener in the bag.

But the Brewers’ edge vanished almost as quickly as they established it, as Minnesota took advantage of an uncharacteristically rocky night from starter Shane Drohan and the Milwaukee bullpen to hand the Brewers an 8-6 loss at American Family Field.

“Score six runs, we usually win it,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We didn’t come up with the big hit.”

Thanks to the way Milwaukee’s pitchers have performed this season, one wouldn’t think the Brewers needed any more big hits after the opening two frames. The club entered Friday night with a combined 3.44 ERA, second only to the Yankees in MLB. So, when Brice Turang followed Jackson Chourio’s first-inning solo homer with a two-run double in the second, the path to victory seemed to be laid out quite early.

Unfortunately, command issues from Drohan ensured Milwaukee’s edge didn’t last very long.

The Brewers southpaw served up a sinker right in the heart of the plate to designated hitter Josh Bell, who promptly swatted it a Statcast-projected 406 feet for a two-run homer in the third. Drohan then gave up a walk and three hits in a two-run fourth, including a solo blast from Twins rookie Kaelen Culpepper, the first hit of his MLB career.

“It wasn't my night,” Drohan said. “I think there’s definitely areas to improve. The sinker command just hasn't been good. A lot of times, when I am trying to go in, it's running too much back over the plate. But that's how the game can be if you're not doing things that you're supposed to.”

Things unraveled further in the fifth, when the left-hander gave up two more runs after allowing four straight softly hit singles to open the frame, including Ryan Kreidler’s bunt back to Drohan that he was unable to field after appearing to stumble off the mound.

“That whole fifth inning was the wild one,” Drohan said. “Almost every ball that was put in play was weakly hit. I was beating guys with cutters on their hands, and they were just finding holes.”

By the time his night closed after the fifth inning, Drohan had allowed career highs in earned runs (six) and hits (nine), while also walking four for the first time since his MLB debut on April 8.

“They hit him hard,” Murphy said. “He gave up [nine] hits, that's unusual. A couple homers, missed some spots, slider wasn't as effective. That's unusual for him.”

The Brewers scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to knot the game at 6, but newcomer Antonio Senzatela ran into his trouble for the first time since being acquired in a trade with the Rockies. After quickly notching the first two outs of the sixth, Milwaukee’s new reliever allowed three consecutive hits to give Minnesota an 8-6 advantage it held onto the rest of the game.

To call the night jarring would be an understatement. Milwaukee hadn’t allowed more than four runs in a game since July 29, and it had allowed more than five runs in a game just four times since July 3.

Meanwhile, Drohan had become a steady presence on the mound over the past month. The rookie lefty gave the Brewers at least six innings in each of his past five outings, four of which were quality starts. His performance is part of the reason Milwaukee has continued to roll with a six-man rotation, even after Kyle Harrison’s return from the injured list and the club’s Deadline deal for Dustin May.

Murphy noted after the game that the club will remain committed to that approach for the time being, despite it leaving the Brewers with one less bullpen arm during a stretch of 17 games in 17 days.

Should Milwaukee decide to pivot in the near future, Drohan has done enough in his manager’s eyes to ensure his spot in the rotation is safe, even after a night where nothing seemed to break in his favor.

“He’s thrown the ball great for us,” Murphy said. “If you had to pick four guys from the July timeframe, this guy would be one of the four on everybody’s ballot. He’s put us in this position.”