Brewers’ Misiorowski, Murphy talk about pitching in win over Pirates
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski and manager Pat Murphy talk about Misiorowski’s pitching performance in a 4-2 victory over the Pirates.
MIAMI – It’s taken him a bit of time, but Aaron Ashby has once again found a sweet spot in the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen.
The left-hander took the ball from a struggling Quinn Priester on Friday night, July 4 and summarily shut down a surging Miami Marlins offense with 2 ⅓ perfect innings to set the stage for a 6-5 victory at loanDepot Park.
The Marlins – winners of 10 of 11 coming in – had scored a pair to tie it at 5-5 and chase Priester with two outs in the fifth, prompting manager Pat Murphy to call upon Ashby for a matchup with the left-handed-hitting Connor Norby.
Norby, who’d homered the previous inning, fell behind in the count, 0-2, battled back to 2-2 and then eventually went down swinging on a changeup on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to halt Miami’s momentum there.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Marlins 5
Ashby retired the next six batters he faced from there, punctuating his night with by catching Agustín Ramírez looking at a called third in the seventh.
“He’s got to be at the top,” Murphy said when asked about the long list of Brewers contributors on the evening. “Ashby was tremendous. The fact that he could face both lefties and righties.
“Some lefties, they’re just lefty specialist types. Ash can give you multiple innings, and he’s got plus stuff. He gets himself beat when he doesn’t field his position or hold runners and things like that.
“But we’ve seen it. He’s got the ability, and I think that’s the best role for him right now in his career.”
Ashby has previously pitched as many as three innings this season, but he might have been at his nastiest Friday with a 99-mph sinker the game’s fastest offering among his 32-pitch outing (11th overall, 19 1/3 innings).
“I think with anything, the more you do it the more comfortable you get with it,” said Ashby, whose season didn’t begin until May 24 as he recovered from a right oblique strain suffered in spring training. “Happy with how the changeup’s coming along, slider. Everything feels good right now. The timing. Being comfortable with runners on base.”
Ashby earned his first victory of the season for his efforts, and first since last Aug. 31.
“He’s nasty,” Priester said. “That was a huge situation for us. I definitely don’t like handing the ball over and giving him traffic like that. But he shows up for us, and showed up for the team in that situation.”
Quinn Priester lost focus
Coming off the best start of his career against the Colorado Rockies – a seven-inning, one-hit shutout on June 28 – Priester was nowhere near as sharp against the Marlins.
They got to him for single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, then two more in the fifth before Ashby took over.
He tied a season high by allowing homers to Norby and Otto Lopez (a two-run shot in the fifth that tied it), and allowed seven hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts over 83 pitches.
But it was one play in particular that haunted him throughout.
It came three batters into the third and with a runner on, as Jesús Sánchez sent a swinging bunt to the right of the mound that Priester got to in plenty of time only to make an awkward and off-target throw to first that sailed well over the head of Jake Bauers for an error.
Brice Turang, backing up on the play, made matters worse by making an off-target throw trying to get the runner advancing to third and a run scored as a result.
“I felt like I was handling the game well, then definitely made a mistake there with overthrowing JB at first,” he said. “I kind of allowed that to stick with me longer than it should have. That’s something that we’re definitely going to go back and realize.
“That’s a fixable thing. That’s a mental part of the game that needs to get better, kind of a new experience for me there and I allowed that to kind of affect the rest of the game.
“That’s on me 100%.”
Even with the subpar outing, Priester exited with a very respectable 3.59 ERA as he continues to add onto his career highs for appearances (16) and starts (12).
These Marlins are pesky
The Brewers narrowly avoided losing three straight for the first time since May 7-10 against a team that, quite frankly, not even the most avid of baseball fans would recognize.
Miami kept the pressure on all night, tied Milwaukee in the hit column and got the winning runner to second base in the ninth against Trevor Megill before Lopez finally struck out to end it.
“I can’t get over the Marlins, man,” Murphy said. “They’re just good. Man, they play good. They’re fundamental. They seem like they’re hungry.”
And hat tip to the Milwaukee offense, which was able to cobble five runs together against right-hander Sandy Alcantara – the big inning coming in the fourth when Caleb Durbin singled in a run with two outs and Joey Ortiz two more when he hit a bouncer off Alcantara’s leg that ended up in right field.
The decisive run crossed the plate in the eighth when Christian Yelich singled to start against left-hander Cade Gibson and Jackson Chourio lined a double down the left-field line to score him.
William Contreras had two hits and an RBI and Durbin also had two more hits to raise his average to .257 with a .705 OPS.
What time is the Brewers game tonight?
Time: 6:10 p.m. CT.
What channel is the Brewers game on tonight?
TV channel: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin.
Brewers lineupSal Frelick RFWilliam Contreras CChristian Yelich DHJackson Chourio CFBrice Turang 2BIsaac Collins LFJake Bauers 1BCaleb Durbin 3BJoey Ortiz SSMarlins lineupXavier Edwards 2BJesús Sánchez RFOtto Lopez SSAgustín Ramírez DHKyle Stowers LFEric Wagaman 1BConnor Norby 3BDane Myers CFNick Fortes CBrewers schedule
Brewers at Marlins, 4:10 p.m. July 5. Milwaukee RHP Chad Patrick (3-7, 3.51) vs. Miami RHP Cal Quantrill (3-7, 5.42) TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Marlins, 12:40 p.m. July 6. Milwaukee RHP Brandon Woodruff (season debut) vs. Miami RHP Edward Cabrera (3-2, 3.41) TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.