Taylor delivers in extras: 'He's a gamer'

May 9th, 2021

It seems like an annual occurrence for a Brewers player to have a career moment on Mother’s Day.

In recent years, it was Tuesday’s starter Freddy Peralta (2018, 13 strikeouts in Major League debut) and recently reactivated catcher Manny Piña (2017, go-ahead three-run homer) who etched their names in Milwaukee’s Mother’s Day lore. But as the franchise with the best Mother’s Day record in the big leagues (34-20), plenty of Brewers have created memorable moments on the second Sunday in May.

In this year’s 2-1 extra-inning win over the Marlins on Sunday at loanDepot park, it was ’s turn.

With Milwaukee and Miami tied at 1 in the top of the 10th inning, and on second base, the Marlins intentionally walked Brewers first baseman to get to Taylor. Though the right fielder said after the game he knew Miami’s pitchers had been working him inside all day, he had trouble catching up to the high velocity offerings of Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara.

Then, with on the mound in the 10th, Taylor sensed another inside pitch on its way, and he was ready. Bass threw a 95-mph sinker inside on the second pitch of the at-bat, which Taylor dumped into left to score Reyes.

“They were just trying to pound me in. With that Alcantara fastball at 99, it's tough to get around on it and has a lot of movement on it too,” Taylor said. “So knowing that, and just sticking with my approach of trying to get a good pitch to hit and swinging strikes, man, I got one. I got the good pitch to hit and I was able to contribute.”

The hit ended up being enough to get the win, as Milwaukee reliever closed out Miami to notch his first big league save. The Mother’s Day win put an end to a tough run of 17 games in 17 days for the Brewers, and they finished the stretch with back-to-back victories and three-out-of-five series wins.

“You’re happy with the group, and how we responded to a tough stretch,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “To finish this stretch in a positive way with a couple of good wins and a lot of people doing good stuff is promising.”

Though that Mother’s Day moment now belongs to Taylor, it very well could’ve been Vogelbach’s.

With Milwaukee and Miami both scoreless heading into the top of the fourth, Vogelbach led off by shooting a four-seam fastball from Alcantara to right field, which cleared the wall and put the Brewers ahead. Per Statcast, the projected 114.3-mph exit velocity made it the hardest hit ball of his career -- and as far as defining moments on this day go, the hardest blast of Vogelbach’s career might’ve ranked among the best recently.

“This is a big park. You have to really earn your home runs because there’s no cheapies here,” Counsell said. “It was smoked. It was kind of a line drive. He got out in front of a fastball and put a great swing on it.”

But Brewers righty -- who entered the game third in club history with 17 consecutive appearances to start the season without allowing an earned run -- got tagged for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh by Marlins center fielder Lewis Brinson, tying the game on a day when offense was at a premium. It was the lone blemish on a day that six relievers backed up starter in his return from the injured list, but it was enough to send the game to extras.

So instead, it came down to Taylor.

Taylor has gotten a majority of his playing time this season with Brewers outfielders Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain hitting the IL, even going down to the Minors for about 24 hours during Yelich’s single-day return.

With the Brewers hoping to have a healthy roster sooner rather than later, Taylor likely won’t fit into the team’s everyday plans. So now that he’s getting his chances, he’s taking full advantage.

“It’s not easy, going up and down and not getting consecutive at-bats or not really knowing what’s going to happen,” Vogelbach said. “You’ve got to be mentally tough. Tyrone’s just -- he’s a gamer. He comes to play every single day, and you can always count on him to play hard [and] put together good at-bats. Nobody better to come up in that situation to give us an insurance run.”