DETROIT -- Former All-Star Lance Berkman never played for the Brewers, never coached the Brewers and hasn’t been seen around the Brewers since visiting Milwaukee with the Rangers in 2013.
And yet, Berkman played an unwitting role in developing the Brewers’ offensive identity on days like Thursday afternoon. A getaway day lineup grinded down Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and even claimed a lead in the seventh inning, only to lose the advantage in the eighth and the game in the bottom of the ninth, when Spencer Torkelson's walk-off home run dealt the Brewers a 5-4 loss at Comerica Park in the first of Milwaukee’s unprecedented back-to-back days against MLB’s reigning Cy Young Award winners.
“It hurts. It’s gut-wrenching,” manager Pat Murphy said. “But they know they went and competed against a No. 1, and a high-end No. 1, and did some really good things.”
The good things were undone by former Brewer Jahmai Jones’ tying pinch-hit homer off Angel Zerpa in the eighth inning and Torkelson’s winning shot off a 3-1 sinker from Abner Uribe with one out in the ninth. It cost the Brewers the series when a win would have propelled them into Friday’s matchup at home against Paul Skenes and the Pirates on a high note.
But even in a loss, it was an offensive performance worthy of Milwaukee’s mantra -- “Drag him!” -- which was unearthed earlier this season by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
What wasn’t previously reported was the origin of that phrase. It came from Berkman, who was talking about his hitting philosophy in a video that happened across former Astros teammate Jason Lane’s Instagram feed early last season. Lane shared it with Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick, and it took off from there.
“He referenced this at-bat against [John] Smoltz in the playoffs, where he chased a couple pitches and was 0-2,” Lane said of Berkman. “He would envision himself being down in a pit, and he tried to drag the pitcher down with him.
“Guys today can relate to that feeling with how tough it is to hit sometimes, when you’re down in the count and a guy’s got nasty stuff. You have to just keep fighting and dragging him down.”
It resonated with Frelick, who took the concept to the next level by asking himself, “How can I drag this pitcher to hell with me?”
“It’s making him uncomfortable. Like, be annoying,” fellow outfielder Blake Perkins said. “That’s kind of our game sometimes. Especially me right now.”
The concept was in play Thursday against two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Skubal, who was spotted an early 2-0 lead while carving through the first three innings on 26 pitches (24 strikes). Brewers hitters finally began to find some favorable counts in the third, when Brandon Lockridge, Brice Turang and William Contreras became the first three hitters to get to two-ball counts. While Lockridge and Turang were retired, Contreras doubled to become the Brewers’ first baserunner, and Gary Sánchez followed with another double to make it a one-run game.
It was a 3-1 Tigers lead in the seventh, when the Brewers started dragging Skubal down again. Sánchez capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a leadoff single. After Luis Matos followed with another single, Perkins, who began the day with a .118 batting average, showed bunt while falling into an 0-2 count, then fought Skubal for a seven-pitch double to left field that not only plated two runs to tie the game at 3, but knocked out the frustrated Detroit ace. Once he reached the Tigers’ dugout, Skubal threw his glove against the wall and flipped a mini-cooler onto the floor.
“Controlled contact all day, I thought,” Skubal said. “[Perkins’] ball gets through, and just so happens to be where our outfield's not in a position. And that's not a knock on positioning by any means, I'm just saying that we're shifted the other way and it ended up being a double that scores two. It's just baseball. It happens."
When David Hamilton delivered an RBI base hit off reliever Tyler Holton three batters later, Milwaukee had its first lead.
But it wasn’t enough, and it had the Brewers lamenting other opportunities they left on the table. In the sixth with runners at the corners, Contreras hit into an inning-ending double play in a 3-0 count (Murphy said he had no problem with that decision). In the seventh after the Brewers took the lead, their top hitter, Turang, grounded into another inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. And in the ninth, Hamilton grounded into one more inning-ending double play with two runners aboard.
“We didn’t put the nail in and hit it,” Murphy said.
They will try to create more chances like that on Friday night against Skenes.
“Everyone takes pride in, ‘Hey, when your back’s against the wall, just drag him down with you,’” Lane said. “Even if you make an out, you can take a huge piece with you, and then the next guy benefits. It’s team offense. It’s everything we talk about.”