Late miscues spoil Crew's chance for close win
MILWAUKEE -- "The ninth inning is our inning," Travis Shaw said Friday after the Brewers scored their second walk-off win in four nights.On Saturday, the Cubs said otherwise.Capitalizing on two more Brewers errors in a homestand full of them, plus the absence of strikeout-inducing closer Corey Knebel, the Cubs put
MILWAUKEE -- "The ninth inning is our inning,"
On Saturday, the Cubs said otherwise.
Capitalizing on two more Brewers errors in a homestand full of them, plus the absence of strikeout-inducing closer
"We know at some point, other teams will do it to us," said fill-in closer
Brewers manager Craig Counsell wasn't shaken.
"There's no reason to shake your head at it," Counsell said. "It's fun baseball. You enjoy it. It was a great ballgame, an entertaining game. We didn't make a couple plays in the end."
Barnes found himself in even bigger trouble after
At that point, the Cubs had sent five men to the plate in the inning against Barnes, none of whom hit a ball past the infield.
On both the Baez and Zobrist grounders, Counsell said, at least one out was available. The Brewers did not get either.
Slumping Chicago leadoff hitter
"You execute pitches, and unfortunately sometimes it goes in the wrong spot," Barnes said. "That's all you can do. I look back -- and obviously it's frustrating, no one wants to give up runs, but at least I executed pretty well for the most part."
Barnes did not mention the errors. Counsell did.
"We've made too many infield mistakes, there's no question," Counsell said, referring to the fact that nine of Milwaukee's 11 errors this week occurred on the infield.
When the Brewers broke camp, did Counsell expect this to be a good defensive infield?
"I think they are a good defensive infield," Counsell said. "We've made defensive mistakes the last couple of games."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
What could have been: Shaw's error was the most costly miscue in the decisive ninth. While the unanimous consensus in the Brewers' clubhouse was that the ball was hit too softly by the speedy Baez to turn a game-ending double play, Shaw himself conceded that he had plenty of time to get an out at either second or third base.
"It was one of those top-spin ones," said Shaw. "I kind of froze on it. I just misplayed it. You either got to go get it or go back. I kind of just froze there and got caught in an in-between hop and misplayed it."
On the board: On a sunny, difficult day to hit, the Brewers' only baserunner in the first three innings against Cubs starter
Bryant answers:
"I was happy to use [the changeup] in pretty much every situation," said Davies, who limited the damage to that run in the sixth inning for the Brewers' first quality start since Chase Anderson's on Opening Day. "I thought [the Bryant homer] was a good pitch. My thought process was, I hadn't thrown many 3-2 changeups against him in the past. He got under it and it got out of the park."
QUOTABLE
"I didn't feel much more pressure, to tell you the truth, and I thought I pitched pretty well. Obviously, there were runs given up, and no one ever wants to do that. But it wasn't hit hard. They literally didn't leave the infield besides [Happ's hit]." -- Barnes, on being chosen for the Brewers' first save situation since Knebel went down with a hamstring injury
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Davies danced his way out of trouble to briefly preserve a 1-0 lead in the fifth, when the Cubs put their first runners in scoring position with
WHAT'S NEXT
The Brewers will seek sources of offense for Anderson, who followed six scoreless innings on Opening Day with a four-inning, four-run outing against the Cardinals in his home debut. Outfielder
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Adam McCalvy has covered the Brewers for MLB.com since 2001. Follow him on Twitter @AdamMcCalvy and like him on Facebook.