Things Just Lined Up Perfectly For The Brewers...

Things just lined up perfectly for the Brewers. Not only did they clinch the season series against the Chicago Cubs yesterday in electric fashion, but you turn it to the mound tonight and it's no other than the Cy Young favorite in the National League, Jacob Mizorowski, who looks to have a bounce back start. Let's look into tonight's matchup and yesterday's all on this episode of Brewers Digest. I'm your host, Taylor Brettel, and I got you covered on everything you need to know about the Brew Crew. And man, yesterday's game kind of ugly early on from a hitting standpoint, but the Brewers able to put three runs in the bottom of the eighth together and have an electrifying win. I'll flash the box score up in the top left corner for you guys right here. You see the winning pitcher in this one was Abner Uribe because the Brewers offense came through in the bottom of the eighth inning. Matthew Boyd was the pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, left in just a little bit too long. That offense was able to take advantage. Only six hits on the game for the Brewers. They did walk four times, so they were getting on base a good amount, but six hits, four runs. You can't really complain about that. We've seen the Brewers over some past couple of games get like 12 hits, 13 hits, but not as much as four runs to pair with it. It's nice. Maybe the hitting was minimal, but it was very impactful. Jackson Churio able to come through in the bottom of the eighth inning. I want to take a look at the pitchers in this one because it was Matthew Boyd for the Chicago Cubs. He's a pitcher that has struggled against the Milwaukee Brewers as of recent, but he was able to go seven innings in this one. He was left in a little bit too long when the Brewers took advantage, so he was credited with the loss. But for the Milwaukee Brewers, it was Robert Gasser who had a typical Robert Gasser start. The first inning, great. Second inning, great. Third inning, great. You go past there, and one thing, maybe hiccups, and then it seems to spiral off from there. He was only able to last four and two-thirds innings. Was only credited giving up one earned run despite a lot of struggles. Two walks, three hits, gave up a homer. That was his one run, a deep shot to left field. Still, four and two-thirds innings is as long as he was able to last. It's a little bit of a concern for the playoffs, but man, Robert Gasser, when he is on, he is on, but when he's off, it just kind of spirals out of control. So, really hoping he's able to figure that out. A huge shout out to Chad Patrick, Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, Trevor McGill, able to get the job done. Aaron Ashby, a little bit shaky out of that bullpen, but that's why you have the boys in the eighth and in the ninth inning whom McGill was a little shaky of his own. I know only three runs were given up, but when a game is as close as this, every single run is important. But what I want to talk about is that ninth inning. Trevor McGill did give up a homerun. We don't see that at all this season. A rare, rare, rare homerun given up for Trevor McGill. Have to tip the cap to Pete Carl Armstrong, who's going to be the National League MVP. Was able to hit one off of McGill to make this game four to three. Made it a little worrisome in the ninth inning, but man, this Brewers defense is absolutely incredible, and I just need to talk about this guy. Luis Lara, he had a very big catch, a fun graphic that the Brewers posted right there. He had a, probably would have been a double when I saw the slow-mo replay, maybe not a true homerun robbery, but he made a very impactful catch in that ninth inning, actually before that PCA homer that could have made it a tie game at four to four. Luis Lara in that outfield has looked absolutely unbelievable, and then Jackson Churio had the third and final out of the ninth inning. He made a nice diving play of his own on a ball hit by Seiya Suzuki. It's a ninth inning that could have totally imploded if you are an average team in the MLB defensively, because these two guys in Jackson Churio and Luis Lara came up huge, and I want to look at this defensive war in the MLB. I think it's very interesting to look at. Defense wins championships, they say, in some sports, maybe not as much in baseball, but the Milwaukee Brewers, the defense that they had, zero errors in the game yesterday, clean baseball. I mean, Lara saved a double. Churio, if he dove for that third and final out and missed it, that was going to be a double of his own. A huge ninth inning performance for Milwaukee despite the homerun giving up. I'm going to look at the defensive war here among all teams in Major League Baseball, and I know it's a little, I shouldn't say a little, it's a lot to look at right here, because I included all 30 teams, but all you have to do is go to number three, and there they are, the Milwaukee Brewers, sitting at third in total team defensive war. The only two teams above them both sit in the AL, so the Brewers have the best defensive team in the National League, and you do look at the teams that sit behind them. I mean, defense really does win some championships in baseball, because you have the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are the two seed and are second in the NL in defensive war. Then the Atlanta Braves follow them, then the Chicago Cubs. I'm actually kind of shocked the Cubs were this low just because of how good Pete Crowe Armstrong is in center field with that glove, but I look at it from a team standpoint, and the Milwaukee Brewers, the best in the NL and top three in the MLB, and it's, again, a huge reason why they got the win yesterday. I sound like a broken record, but I can't emphasize enough. These are the little things that you get right that makes your team a World Series level contender. One blip, and you could be completely done, so I want to ask you guys a question. I mean, we've seen the man. We've seen Air Laura, as they're calling him, just absolutely incredible defensively. This Brewers outfield is pretty stacked, and they got some good gloves. They also have some good bats. It's a good problem to have, rather, I should say. It feels like years in the past you've really had three and maybe a fourth guy, but you look at this outfield. I kind of have a little bit of a hypothetical. I know if a lefty or a righty is on the mound, you're going to answer this a little bit differently, but if you can only pick one outfield combination for the rest of the year, would you select? This is obviously a hypothetical. Pat Murphy is able to change his lineup and make defensive substitutions, but let's say the MLB magically put in a rule and you had to pick three and you had to stick with it. Here are the options. Who are you picking? I mean, you can't take Garrett Mitchell out of centerfield, and I say you can't take Jackson Trurio out of leftfield, so I really think it comes down to this right field position. If you want the best bat, I'm going Jake Bowers. If you want the best glove, I mean, heck, it was Sal Freelick, but with how Laura is playing, it is hard to say that Freelick is better than Laura because they are both great defensively. That's kind of how I view it. It's not a knack on Freelick. It's just how good Laura has been performing with the glove, and his bat is starting to look very good as well. Laura still now and then does have some ugly strikeouts. Had an ugly one yesterday on a fastball like above his eyes, but if you were to have a trio outfield that you could not move, who would you pick? Because maybe if you're like me and you're looking, hey, the one yesterday seems like the one you should have in the playoffs with Trurio, Mitchell, and Laura, then you're asking the question, where does Jake Bowers play? Do you put him at first? And if Bowers is at first, is Andrew Vaughn not in the lineup? That's something that might have to happen. I know a lot of people really don't want Jelich in the lineup with how he's been struggling. You say put Bowers at first, put Vaughn at DH. I totally get that. So with this little bit of a hypothetical question for you guys, I want you to let me know what you would do. Me personally, I think I got to go with the three that we saw yesterday just because of how big the defense is. Jake Bowers is a very solid fielder, but you're not going to see Jake Bowers run down and make a leaping catch looking like Michael Jordan in the air like we saw from Luis Laura. So a fun little hypothetical that I wanted you guys to answer. But again, yesterday's final score, four to three, a huge win for the Milwaukee Brewers, a needed win after that series against Cincinnati, where the Brewers, you know, they're at their team that they've kind of owned year after year after year, and they did not play their best baseball. It's nice that they put that series in the past. They came back home and they got the job done. But who can get the job done tonight? Well, that is the man, Jacob Mizorowski, who leads in National League Cy Young Race, but is the last time he was out on the mound. It was in Chicago at Wrigley Field, and he had his worst outing of his season, one of the worst of his career. Maybe that's a little bit of a stretch because he had some struggles last season. But when you look at this line and you see it's like the worst he's had all season, that really shows how good Jacob Mizorowski is. It was humid outside. The ball was traveling. Miz always seems to have some issues with the mound in certain ballparks, so there's not really an excuse for the mound tonight as he's back home. But you go to the pitching matchup in the last contest. Jacob Mizorowski, you see, only lasted four innings. And despite this struggle of an outing for Mizorowski, the Brewers offense was able to put up nine runs and get the win. But Miz, four innings, five hits, five runs, all earned. He walked four, still got a strike up per inning, and he gave up a home run. So not the best of outings for Jacob Mizorowski. But the reason I put up both pitchers, it'll be David Peterson again for the Chicago Cubs. The series lining up exactly how the one was last week. Peterson was the pitcher that got the loss the last time we saw this matchup, which was, what, exactly a week ago today or maybe six days ago. He was only able to go three and two-thirds innings. The Brewers got seven hits off of him at six runs, which were all earned. Peterson walked four batters, gave up a homer, and he had about a strikeout per inning as well. So not a great pitching matchup for either side. It was humid. It was hot. Ball could have been slippery. Ball was traveling more. I get all those things. So now at American Family Field, there shouldn't really be an excuse for that. You know, the roof should hopefully be open. But if it's closed, I think there's even less excuses. Otherwise, I know it can get a little bit humid in there, but that's what we're seeing. So Jacob Mizrowski hoping that he's able to bounce back from his outing the last time out. Mizrowski is very, very good at home. He's had good numbers against the Cubs in the past, but that was definitely a struggle of an outing. That's why it's nice. You get game one. You get the win. You get the series win, the season series win over Chicago. But the Brewers would like to extend that division lead a little bit more because why not make it comfortable? Why not clinch the division as early as possible? We take a look at it on the big screen right here. The Milwaukee Brewers at 89 and 56. They lead the Chicago Cubs by eight games. But again, if these two teams end up with the exact same record, the Milwaukee Brewers would have the tiebreaker over the Cubs because they won the season series, even though two games remain. They look at the rest of the division, and yeah, it's really just a race between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs. The big thing for the Brewers, though, is looking at the bigger picture. I'm not going to say that the series is over, that the season is over, the division's over. None of that. I'll actually put it up one more time so you can look at it as I talk with you. Like, I'm not saying they have the division up in wraps, but you do have to question the National League race as a whole. The Brewers with a pretty tough September schedule, mainly just because of having to face the Cubs in multiple series. But when you look at the Los Angeles Dodgers schedule, who I don't have up right now, but they're only a game and a half back of the Milwaukee Brewers. They have two games against the Reds. They then play the Marlins, then the Reds once more, the Giants, who have not been good all year, the Padres, that'll be a big series, and then the Giants again. So can the Brewers sustain their winning ways and get the number one overall seed? Well, that'll definitely be ideal. They got to take it one game at a time, though. A chance for the Brewers to win their 90th game is tonight. It's in the hands of Jacob Mizorowski on the mound and hoping that the offense, you know, four runs, can't complain too much. But how about we get some of those a little bit earlier and not have to panic and wait until the eighth inning? But hey, if you get a W in the column, I don't really care how it happens. That's all I got for this episode of Brewers Digest. I'm glad to be back. I know I was gone for the past couple of days, but I guess it's a good series to be away from because that Red series was gross, and we're going to put it in the past, and we will look forward to game two between Pat Murphy, Craig Counsel, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Chicago Cubs, hoping the Brewers can get another win in the books.