ANAHEIM – This was just the way the Brewers drew up the start of their latest stretch of 17 consecutive game days.
With reinforcements likely coming at Monday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline, the Brewers got six more quality innings from rookie left-hander Shane Drohan and home runs from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers in a five-run fifth to beat the Angels, 6-2, on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
It marked the start of 17 games scheduled over 17 days, including two trips to the West Coast, the latest test for a team that just survived 18 games over 17 days leading into the All-Star break. That stretch required some creative roster management to get through, and Brewers officials are poised to be similarly active during this one.
“It’s a work in progress,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It’s a big part of it right now, especially when you have rookie starters and you have everybody exceeding their [innings] limits. It’s a delicate time.”
Here are some of the ways the braintrust is trying to help:
1. They bumped Drohan from his scheduled start on Wednesday in San Francisco to Friday in Anaheim in the interest of rest, even though that decision led to absorbing a loss to the Giants behind spot starter Thomas Pannone, only to designate him for assignment two days later. Taking that risk was deemed worthwhile to protect Drohan, whose 36 innings during the month of July led the team by a wide margin. Robert Gasser was next, at 21 2/3 innings.
“You think about July, and who were our difference-makers?” Murphy said of the Brewers’ 16-10 month. “You’ve got to mention [Drohan] in the first breath.”
He delivered again on Friday, holding the Angels to two runs on four hits over six innings, the fifth straight start in which he’s cleared the sixth and the sixth straight start in which he’s worked into the sixth. He’s up to 101 2/3 innings this season between the Majors and Minors, Drohan’s biggest workload since he threw 123 innings in Boston’s Minor League system in 2023.
“Myself, as a competitor, I’m always going to say I’m good and I want the ball,” Drohan said. “It’s nice to have Hooky [pitching coach Chris Hook] and Jim [Henderson, Milwaukee’s Major League pitching coordinator] to rely on. Sometimes they’ve got to pull me back. It’s great to have them to kind of navigate me through this long year.”
2. They reinstated lefty reliever DL Hall from the injured list for Friday’s series opener against the Angels, hoping he’ll pitch like he did (2.03 ERA in 24 appearances) before going down with a pectoral injury in June. If he does, then Hall could help ease the load on hard-worked left-hander Aaron Ashby, who had a 6.75 ERA in 12 appearances in July after a 6.43 ERA in 13 appearances in June.
3. They are poised to bring back lefty starter Kyle Harrison as soon as next week against the Pirates after he threw 68 pitches and worked parts of six innings in a rehab start for High-A Wisconsin on Thursday night. Murphy wasn’t ready to put a date on Harrison’s potential return, but said, “We anticipate with that amount of pitches he threw, that he’s ready to go.”
Just don’t call Hall’s or Harrison’s return the equivalent of a Trade Deadline addition.
“I don’t think fans like that very much, when we use that every year,” Hall said with a laugh.
4. They want to be aggressive at the Trade Deadline, whether that means adding a difference-making starter, a high-leverage reliever or even a position player. The Brewers are prepared to go after all three once trade talks finally loosen up. Tigers ace Tarik Skubal remains the top target for the Brewers and other buyers.
Murphy will take every live arm he can get.
“Any pitching help we can have right now is important,” he said.
With a solid month of July in the books, the Brewers entered August with the second-best record in the Majors and a 6 1/2-game lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central.
There are two months of regular-season games remaining.
“We have a good team full of good players and good people,” Drohan said. “The vibes in here are great. We just have to keep it rolling.”