MILWAUKEE -- Brewers officials came into 2021 asking themselves the same question that was being asked all around baseball: How do we keep our pitchers healthy with the schedule reverting to 162 games? 

The answer, they decided from the start, was extra rest. For most of this season, Milwaukee’s starters have had at least one extra day of rest, either by virtue of an open date on the schedule or by the introduction of a sixth starter. That even applied to an ace like Brandon Woodruff, who has been on “regular” four days’ rest only once in his 11 starts since pitching Opening Day against the Twins. Every other time out, he’s been on five days’ rest. 

“What we thought about early in the year is that it could be a significant difference for these guys if we give them an extra day between every start that they make. So at this point, we've been able to do that,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think the plan in the near term will be to continue to do that. I think that extra days allow them to enter every start in a good place because they know they're going to get that extra day of recovery. 

“This is going to become a more popular question as the season goes on, for every team and every pitcher. We don't know because we've never done it before in a season like this. We're going to have to use our best judgment, and the way we try to get in front of it is to go to a six-day rotation on a regular basis. I'm sure we're going to have to make some adjustments as we move forward, but right now, we think we're in a good place.” 

Even with extra rest, the Brewers have been conservative with pitch counts. Only six times in the team’s first 58 games did the starter reach 100 pitches, and none have reached 110. Freddy Peralta’s 109 pitches on Friday night in a no-hit bid represented the Brewers’ highest count this season.

Now, the Brewers are on the precipice of one of the toughest tests of their 2021 schedule. Following an off-day on Monday, they have a game on the schedule for 33 of the 34 days leading to the All-Star break.

“I think eventually there may be a spot where we have to start rolling with four days in between, but I think it’s really helped them just kind of create a foundation,” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “I think that was the biggest thing, even going back to my years as a development guy in the Minor Leagues, those first two months, if we can build a solid foundation and not really get pitch counts high in the 110s and the up and downs [between innings] at 7s and 8s, you find these guys being able to hold on to that stress a little better as we get to the back side of the season.

“So, I think this has really given these guys a solid foundation to work from. Obviously, we haven’t pushed them really, really hard. We’ve had no-hit opportunities; those are different types of things that go on, but I think we’ve been real pleased on how the schedule has laid out for us and put these guys in a good position to succeed.”

Haines staying the course
Has Andy Haines been sleeping a bit better the past few nights?

“I don't know if a hitting coach ever sleeps great,” said Haines, who is in his third season in that role for the Brewers, “but it's been a fun few days, for sure.”

It will take more than a few days of consistent production for Haines and the Brewers to feel like they have turned a corner offensively, but in the first two weeks since shortstop Willy Adames walked through the visiting clubhouse doors in Cincinnati on May 22 and gave the Brewers a jolt of energy, the team won 11 of the next 14 games. In that span, they ranked fifth in the National League with a .719 OPS, third with 4.86 runs per game, second with a .428 slugging percentage and first with 27 home runs -- including 14 homers in their last four games heading into Sunday’s series finale against Arizona.

That does not mean they are suddenly a juggernaut. The Brewers still entered Sunday last in the NL in batting average (.211), second-worst in strikeouts (570) and third-worst in OPS (.668) for the season. But, as outfielder Tyrone Taylor put it Saturday, “They say when the weather gets hot, the bats get hot.”

They also say that a slumping hitter has to rely on his process to pull through it. Haines was asked whether the same concept applies to hitting coaches like him and assistant Jacob Cruz.

"Yeah, for sure,” Haines said. “I always say, you have to walk in the door with a strategy to win the day, so to speak. You get tested. You can't put your head in the sand and say, ‘Hey, I love my process, and the results aren't showing up, but I love my process.’ You’ve got to think and reflect a lot of, ‘What can I do better? What can I do more? What are we missing?’ And you still have to have conviction that what you're putting into the day, if you get enough time here, in this full season, it'll happen.

“You have to have a lot of conviction. It's human nature, man. It's lonely when you see your guys struggle. So, I think as opposed [to] letting that affect you, you have to walk in the door and be the guy your players need you to be to win that day. And it's a tough dynamic, I think, for people to understand that how long the season is, to balance that with where we want to go. …

“Like, the story is not written. Even though you're going through some tough times, it's not written. The real test is at the end because the season is so long.”

Last call
• Omar Narváez on Friday and Saturday became the first catcher in Brewers history to score three runs in consecutive games. He entered Sunday batting .328 (39-for-119) as a catcher this season, tops from the position in the Majors, and was second in slugging percentage (.538) and third in OBP (.409). That’s after struggling to a .562 OPS in the shortened 2020 season.

“I think I’m the same guy aggressively,” Narváez said. “I’m swinging at better pitches in the strike zone, I’m taking walks, I’m not striking out as much. I think that’s a huge difference for me that is definitely going to make my job a little easier.”

• Hook was asked about reports that Major League Baseball intends to intensify its efforts to police foreign substances that pitchers use on their hands to improve their grip. Here’s what he said on Sunday: “I have not heard anything. I’ve read some news reports. But I have no thoughts. They’re the ones who kind of dictate things. We’ll wait to see what they say.”