Gennett's soft hit carries weight in victory
MILWAUKEE -- Following a 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Miller Park, Scooter Gennett wondered aloud: Whose game-changing single was hit weaker, his go-ahead two-run single in the eighth or Paul Goldschmidt's an inning before?
"I don't know who hit their ball better, but it would be interesting to see what Statcast™ had on those balls," Gennett said.
The answer was Gennett's, which at 55.5 mph exit velocity was the softest-hit ball of the game, but the Brewers second baseman didn't mind as it had left the largest imprint on the game.
Gennett also added a two-out RBI single in the sixth that temporarily gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead before Goldschmidt's 62.6 mph check swing turned itself into an RBI single off the glove of first baseman Chris Carter to tie the game.
"It's a crazy game," Gennett said. "Sometimes you can do everything right and fail. Sometimes you can get jammed by 97 and everything works out. It's a crazy game and it's about time that things start working in our favor though."
With the game tied at 4 and the bases loaded with one out, Gennett found himself down in the count against reliever Daniel Hudson. The right-hander ran a 1-2 fastball in on the hands of Gennett, who managed to loft the ball gently toward second base. D-backs second baseman Phil Gosselin nicked the ball with his glove as he laid out on the infield dirt, but it escaped to center field, plating Hernán Pérez and Ryan Braun.
"I think if I didn't have my Wheaties today, I might have hit that ball a little shorter, it might have been caught," Gennett quipped. "It's important to get a good breakfast in."
The single gave the Brewers a 6-4 lead, which they would increase to 9-4 with a bases loaded walk drawn by Kirk Nieuwenhuis and a two-run single hit nearly twice as hard as Gennett's by Jonathan Villar.
"There were some soft, soft hits looking like they were going to decide the game: Goldschmidt's check swing and Scooter's jam shot," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We did a nice job tonight with two outs just keeping the line moving. We had good at-bats with two outs."