MILWAUKEE -- Whatever uniform they are wearing, Brewers hitters don’t look like themselves these days.
They managed to make things interesting in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Nationals at American Family Field when William Contreras homered and a pair of wild pitches from Washington reliever Clayton Beeter helped Milwaukee load the bases. But Joey Ortiz hit a tapper toward the mound, the Nationals converted the out -- no small thing in this series -- and the Brewers were handed a fourth consecutive loss.
“Some tough ones,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “But you’ve got to get through this period, you’ve got to stay with your team. You’ve got to try to let this be a time that really helps us. We can really show our character when things aren’t going well.”
Things aren’t going well. Washington came into the night with the worst ERA in the National League -- more than a run higher than the next team, the Cardinals -- but has held the Brewers to six hits in the first 18 innings of a series that concludes Sunday afternoon with the Brewers at risk of being swept for the first time since dropping three in a row at Texas last September.
For a microcosm of what’s gone wrong, see the sixth inning on Saturday night. After five hitless innings from Washington starter Foster Griffin, a left-hander who’s back from three years in Japan, the Brewers finally had something cooking when Ortiz led off with a single and Brice Turang walked. But then a team that prides itself in asking, “How can I drag this pitcher to hell with me?” -- quoting Sal Frelick in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from the opening homestand -- went down with barely a fight.
Luis Rengifo hit an infield pop-out on Griffin’s second pitch.
After right-handed reliever Brad Lord replaced Griffin, Contreras grounded out on the first pitch.
And after Lord intentionally walked Christian Yelich to load the bases, pinch-hitter Jake Bauers grounded out on the first pitch, too.
“Everybody is trying to help the team win in whatever situation we have,” Rengifo said. “You have to stay positive and see what happens in the next game. It’s a tough game. The result is not there, but we have a lot of confidence.
“We have a good group. We will figure it out.”
What happened to Murphy’s “woodpeckers?” They found so many ways to pester opposing pitchers during the final four-plus months of last season and during Milwaukee’s 8-2 start to this season, but now they have lost their last four games while hitting .124 (15-for-121) with three extra-base hits, and going 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position.
During that skid, they have scored in only three of the 36 innings -- on a hit-by-pitch and a run-scoring groundout with the bases loaded on Tuesday in Boston, on Bauers’ three-run homer in the first inning against Washington on Friday, and on Contreras’ home run leading off the ninth inning on Saturday night.
It’s clear the Brewers miss left fielder Jackson Chourio and first baseman Andrew Vaughn, two of their best right-handed hitters who would have featured prominently on a night like Saturday against a left-hander like Griffin. Both are on the injured list after fracturing bones in their left hand, and while Chourio is closer, he’s still several weeks away.
“There’s [been], sporadically, really good at-bats,” Murphy said. “It’s tough when you have high expectations on yourselves. We’ve got some injuries, some inexperience, and guys getting to play that haven’t played full time. You have some guys kind of caught in-between and trying to do a lot.
“It’s common in baseball. It’s not like all of a sudden something crazy has happened. We got off to a good start, we connected at-bats. They are trying to do that. It’s not lack of effort.”
Besides the hitting woes, the Brewers had two pitchers getting checked for knee injuries in the wake of Saturday’s loss. Left-handed starter Kyle Harrison was set for scans of his left knee after absorbing a fastball from first baseman Gary Sánchez on a botched play in the first inning -- the first of Sánchez’s two errors -- and right-hander Brandon Sproat was getting his right knee evaluated after diving for an infield grounder in the seventh.
Injury worries were the last thing the Brewers needed on another tough night.
“I’m not panicking," Murphy said. “I still trust the ballclub.”