NEW YORK -- The Brewers still have the best record in baseball with 30 regular season games to go, but that didn’t stop manager Pat Murphy from sending a Big Apple-sized message to rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt during Tuesday’s 3-2 loss in 10 innings to the Mets at Citi Field.
“You’ve got to be locked in if you’re going to play at this level,” Murphy said. “It was hopefully a good learning experience."
To understand how this game got away, you have to start with the worst moment of Pratt’s promising Major League career. Or rather, two moments.
One, he twice failed to execute a bunt attempt in the third inning, pulling back his bat on a 92 mph fastball middle-in for strike two before grounding into a fielder’s choice and extending a recent slump to 0-for-19 with six strikeouts and no walks.
And two, he didn’t immediately hustle out of the batter’s box on a bloop single over first base in the fifth.
"I've got to be better,” Pratt said. “It's stuff that can't happen. It's not winning baseball.”
It wasn’t the first time that Murphy made a move to send a message. In one loss to the Cardinals last April, he benched both Sal Frelick for missing the cutoff man and Caleb Durbin for getting picked off. And on two occasions this month alone, he’s yanked a starting pitcher (Brandon Sproat against the Pirates and Robert Gasser against the Mariners) in the middle of a batter.
“It’s for the player and the team,” Murphy said. “I love [Pratt] and I believe in the kid immensely. But he’s got to be a player who does those things. He’s not going to hit 30 homers at this point in his career. He’s a great defender and a really capable offensive player, and he can’t have that. It’s just not tolerated by anybody, and it sends a message to everybody else, too. You’ve got to run.”
The Brewers had a 1-0 lead when Pratt hit a high pop up into no-man’s land along the right-field line, where three Mets defenders converged on the baseball, which dropped and then scooted past right fielder Carson Benge. Pratt had paused in the batter’s box and looked up before running to first. Once he got there, he thought for a moment about second base while the baseball rattled around, but held instead.
Instead of a bloop hit to feel good about, it marked a sudden end of his night. David Hamilton, who was still in the dark after the game about what had actually happened, was sent in from the bench to pinch-run for Pratt, who wore a similarly confused look on his face as he trotted off the field.
He took a seat on the bench for conversations with Jake Bauers and Frelick.
“They hold you accountable, which is good,” Pratt said. “I need that. It will never happen again.”
Said Murphy: “I know who this kid is. He’s a great kid. It’s not laziness. You’ve got to have your head in the game. These games, like today, comes down to [Francisco] Lindor’s great catch and an errant throw.”
About that. The Brewers still were positioned to win the game after Christian Yelich delivered a pinch-hit RBI double to tie the game in the top of the ninth, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. They just couldn’t push across the go-ahead run.
Naturally, Hamilton was in the middle of it. Facing a left-on-left matchup with Mets southpaw Jefry Yan, Hamilton hit a line drive toward left field. Mets shortstop Lindor snared it with a dive.
"I felt like I had a good read on it, and I was just hoping it didn't continue to tail away from me so I could make a play,” Lindor said. “I'd much rather do that than hit, to be quite honest. So I loved it."
The Brewers earned a bit of payback in the bottom of the ninth when closer Trevor Megill picked off Lindor at first base for the third out, but then their fundamentals failed the visitors again. With the speedy Hamilton at second base as the free runner and the top of the order coming up in the 10th, Jackson Chourio struck out on three pitches outside the zone and Brice Turang struck out after fouling off a bunt for strike two. The Brewers never moved Hamilton beyond second base.
And with Megill back on the mound for the bottom of the inning and the bases loaded, Christopher Morel hit a bouncer to Hamilton at third. There was time to get an out at home, but Hamilton pulled his throw for an error that handed the Mets the game.
“I don’t think I got my feet set good. I think I rushed the throw,” Hamilton said.
Would Ortiz have made that play had he not moved to shortstop for Pratt?
“You can speculate that stuff. You can make it out that taking out Pratt was the difference,” Murphy said. “Then again, if you took out anybody in the game and you didn’t win -- you could arguably say Hamilton covers as much ground as anybody. He’s been great for us.”
Pratt vowed to avoid any more questions like that in the future.
“There's a certain way we play here, and I may be new, but it doesn't matter,” Pratt said. “It's the way we're taught through the organization, from rookie ball to the big leagues. I didn't do that. I will do that. No excuses.”