Brewers manager Pat Murphy on Logan Henderson’s adjustments to majors
Logan Henderson’s first two starts with the Brewers were excellent, as he allowed three runs over 11 innings with 16 strikeouts.
Rookie third baseman Caleb Durbin had a career day, driving in three runs, including a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to secure a 6-5 Brewers victory over the Red Sox.Durbin’s clutch performance included a two-run double in the sixth and another double in the eighth, raising his batting average to .210 and showcasing his growing confidence at the plate.Sal Frelick contributed significantly to the win with four singles, including a key infield hit in the 10th, and scored the winning run.Despite throwing a season-high 108 pitches in just five innings, Freddy Peralta managed to keep the Brewers in the game, allowing three runs while striking out six.
It’s taken a little bit, but Caleb Durbin is starting to impact games for the Milwaukee Brewers.
For the second time in four days, the rookie third baseman delivered in a crucial situation, this time sending a sacrifice fly to center that plated Sal Frelick for the Brewers’ second 10th-inning walkoff victory in less than 24 hours – this one a 6-5 decision May 28 that swept away the Boston Red Sox at American Family Field.
It was a big day overall for Durbin, who started 0 for 2 only to yank a two-out, two-run double down the left-field line in the sixth to give Milwaukee its first lead of the game, again doubled with two outs in the eighth and then delivered the decisive swing against Justin Slaten in the 10th.
The three runs batted in were a career high for Durbin and the two extra-base hits also a first.
“There’s no question he’s finding his stride here,” said manager Pat Murphy of Durbin, who on May 25 smacked a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning to tie an eventual 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
“When they traded for him, they said, ‘This one’s special,’ and I think you’re seeing it. He’s got a belief system that he believes that he should get it done. You’re not going to get a lot of huge emotion out of him. He just plays with that edge.”
On May 18, Durbin’s average sat at a season-low .169 after going eight games without a hit.
Three multi-hit games since then have him on the right side of the Mendoza Line at .210, and more important, he’s delivering in clutch spots while displaying a little more slug.
“Just simplifying some things,” said Durbin, who ranks sixth on the team in runs batted in with 21, one behind Brice Turang. “Getting back to an approach that makes me the best I can be. I’ve felt confident and loose in the box, and it’s been able to play out.”
His sixth-inning double was a nice piece of hitting, as he pulled his hands in on a first-pitch slider from Hunter Dobbins and got the ball to land less than a foot to the right of the left-field line, scoring William Contreras and Frelick.
Another double to left in the eighth was followed by a Jake Bauers intentional walk. That brought Joey Ortiz to the plate and he roped what easily could have been another extra-base hit, only to have Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran make the first of two tough catches in consecutive innings to keep the game tied.
After Boston took the lead two batters into the 10th, Frelick started the Brewers’ rally by legging out an infield single that sent pinch-runner Daz Cameron to third.
A horrible throw home by Kristian Campbell on an Isaac Collins grounder to second allowed Cameron to score and Frelick advance to third.
That brought up Durbin, who wasted no time sending the Brewers to their second straight extra-innings, walk-off victory – the first time they’ve accomplished that feat in nearly 25 years.
It marked the first time Milwaukee had won consecutive regulation games in walk-off fashion since April 17 and 18, 2012, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“That’s the goal, try to get it deep enough,” Durbin said. “I knew their outfielders were playing pretty in. Even a low line drive gets the job done, but can’t go wrong with trying to get it deep in the air.”
It was the first walk-off in just over a year that Durbin had a role in deciding; his two-out, two-run home run last May 22 for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre beat Syracuse when he was still a prospect in the New York Yankees system.
Now, he has what he and the Brewers hope will be the first of many in the years to come in the major leagues.
“I think you need a lot of confidence to be able to come through in those situations,” he said. “You want to come through for the guys.”
Another big game for Sal Frelick
Frelick’s fingerprints were all over this win.
Batting fifth, he singled in the second, singled in the fourth, singled in the sixth ahead of Durbin’s double and then beat out the leadoff infield single in the 10th that got him on base to eventually slide home with the game-winner.
“It’s just trying to be as consistent as possible,” said Frelick, who now leads the Brewers with a .294 average and ranks second with a .793 OPS. “It’s just having a short memory – you go 0-for, you go to bed, you wake up, forget it. You have five hits, you’ve got to go to bed and forget it.
“Just make sure I’m going up there competing every at-bat and just doing my job.”
The run Frelick scored in the sixth was preceded by some anxious moments; he tagged and went to second on a Collins fly ball to center and was called out by umpire James Jean, only to have Murphy challenge.
After a lengthy review, the call was overturned and Frelick was ruled safe, as he somehow eluded the tag attempt on his head-first slide.
“I definitely thought I got in there,” he said. “Looking back in those situations, when you’re tagging from first to second usually when you see a good throw on line it’ll be a shutdown. But for some reason I thought I would be able to get in there and I was confident I did.
“Luckily I was safe.”
Frelick also registered his major-league-leading seventh assist in somewhat unconventional fashion in the fourth when Duran singled to right and Connor Wong held at third base, unbeknownst to Ceddanne Rafaela until he too was standing on the bag.
Frelick hit Jake Bauers with a perfect cutoff throw, and Bauers simply jogged over from between first base and the mound to tag Rafaela for the out.
“That was weird,” he said. “Just giving JB a chance to redirect the ball. I think they made a little blunder there on the bases, and luckily we got an out.”
Another short start for Freddy Peralta
Efficiency again was an issue for right-hander Freddy Peralta, who threw a season-high 108 pitches in only five innings.
Seven three-ball counts in the first two innings set the stage.
Peralta allowed a run in the second and two in the fourth. Boston logged six hits and three walks against him, and he struck out six.
“Freddy gave us five innings,” Murphy said. “Pitch count was really, really high in the third inning. He still hung in there. He kept us in the game.”
In his previous start, Peralta went a season-low 4 â…“ innings, allowing five hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks with three strikeouts over 101 pitches in a 10-inning, walk-off loss to the Pirates on May 23.
“I think today, actually, I felt great physically,” Peralta said. “The other games I wasn’t feeling too good because of my left groin and all that. I think because today I was feeling so good, I wasn’t able to control myself in some moments, and they did a good job by trying to to not swing at all the pitches that I was missing close to the strike zone.
“Credit for them.”