I don’t think it would be a particularly “hot take” among baseball fans to suggest that attending a baseball game in-person is a better experience than watching it on television. It’s not without its detractions – including the ability to mute commercials and use your own bathroom whenever you wish – but the energy and excitement at a live game is unmatched compared to any other viewing experience. I was lucky enough to be able to attend tonight’s game and the energy of the crowd really was unmatched. It’s clear just how beloved the team is to the entire state and how special this particular iteration of the club is after Bob Uecker’s untimely departure earlier in the year.
After consecutive offensive onslaughts from an excellent Brewers’ offense, the D-Backs’ pitching was finally able to contain the Milwaukee bats, but not without plenty of drama and suspense. There was exactly one half inning in which the Brewers did not generate at least one baserunner as they created traffic on the basepaths throughout the game, but never quite found a way to break through for the game-changing hit they needed. They opened the scoring in the home half of the second when consecutive singles from Andrew Vaughn and Blake Perkins put runners on the corners and Jake Bauers’ slow roller to Ildemargo Vargas was too lightly hit for either the double play or to nab Vaughn at home who scored the game’s first run.
Frustratingly, Ryne Nelson never really got into much of a rhythm as he authored just one clean inning on the night, but managed to keep the Brewers guessing just enough to keep them off the scoreboard for the most part. For the night, the Brew Crew went just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base – a far cry from their .288/.367/.424 slash line in such situations on the year. Instead, Nelson and the Arizona bullpen managed to wriggle their way out of the threat each time. In the second, Nelson got consecutive strikeouts to end the threat, he retired the heart of the Milwaukee order in the sixth after a leadoff double, but the staff pulled its best Houdini in the seventh. After loading the bases on a pair of walks to Blake Perkins and Andrew Monasterio and a single to Brice Turang, newly-inserted Juan Burgos managed to induce a harmless groundout from Caleb Durbin to end the threat. The Brewers would claw back within a run off Contreras’ no-doubter to left field, but the bullpen would manage to hold the lead for good.
Perhaps the Arizona offense was still recovering from last night’s late Milwaukee magic or even still recovering from the even later night they had on their travel to Milwaukee, but either way the bats were asleep for a couple stretches of tonight’s affair. They didn’t have a single baserunner until the visiting half of the fifth on a one-out single from Pavin Smith broke up the perfect game the Brewers had been cooking up. That inning featured the first of two questionable calls from newly-installed third-base coach Tim Bogar. After a pair of singles from Smith and Adrian Del Castillo put two runners on, Alek Thomas lined a base hit right to Christian Yelich in left who threw a picture-perfect throw to catcher William Contreras to nap Smith and end the inning. It was a questionably aggressive send given Yelich’s below-average arm and Smith’s below-average sprint speed, but given that the bottom of the order was coming up and there were two outs, it was understandable to try and steal the tying run.
Thankfully, the Arizona bats finally fully woke up in the next inning when Blaze Alexander collected an “oppo taco” to plate himself and Geraldo Perdomo that stole the lead from the Brewers. They would get one more run on a solo shot from Perdomo in the eighth, but were otherwise largely kept in check by a small parade of Milwaukee relievers. Their only other scoring opportunity came in the seventh when the bottom of the order loaded the bases on three singles, but this time Bogar elected not to send the runner – Tyler Locklear in place of a possibly injured Smith – on a similar play to the situation in the fifth. Of course, because the baseball gods like to laugh at us, Bogar was rewarded for his less-aggressive send this time around with an inning-ending double play off the bat of Vargas. It’s a thankless job being a third-base coach. The level of scrutiny you can receive is intense when your split-second decision to hold or send a runner can go either way.
In another, happier universe – presumably one in which the Yankees went 0-162 on the season – this series was one that helped determine playoff position between two very good teams. It featured two talented rosters that were separated by just three total runs, including a pair of one-run wins for each team. Instead, it will likely be just a small speed bump on a magical Brewers’ season and yet another example of what could have been for the D-Backs if earlier parts of the season had gone differently.