The Milwaukee Brewers have been as sure-handed as a team can be this season.
But injuries on the infield have led to some shuffling, and a couple miscues in the sixth inning opened the door to a two-run deficit that ultimately proved too large to overcome in a 7-1 defeat to the San Francisco Giants at American Family Field on Saturday night, Aug. 23.
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Andruw Monasterio, starting at shortstop with Joey Ortiz on the injured list, made the first miscue to start the sequence of events and Anthony Seigler the other that led directly to the Giants snapping what had been a 1-1 tie.
Milwaukee was also playing without second baseman Brice Turang, who was hit in the wrist by a pitch on Friday, and there are no guarantees he’ll be ready to go for the series finale on Sunday, either.
Turang’s absence left third baseman Caleb Durbin at second against the Giants and Seigler at third. And regular first baseman Andrew Vaughn was also out, with Jake Bauers getting a start in his place.
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“I had no problem with the way we competed tonight,” said manager Pat Murphy, whose team had a seven-game home winning streak snapped. “There was no lack of effort. There was no lack of anything. These guys care a lot and they want to do special things. But because they have such little experience, and because there’s a lot of guys filling out the roster that are new to the big leagues, you’re going to have games where this happens.
“And, the Giants are a really good team. They built that team to win the World Series.”
Starter Freddy Peralta threw five shutout innings opposite fellow all-star Logan Webb, but he also walked four and ultimately had to be pulled after running his pitch count up to 96.
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Willy Adames of the San Francisco Giants tags out Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick, who was attempting to steal second base in the first inning on Aug. 23.
Rare defensive miscues result in trouble
Milwaukee went ahead, 1-0, in the second when Bauers was hit by a pitch and Durbin doubled him in.
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The team also had a runner at second in the third and fourth innings, but both times Webb buckled down and stranded them. Overall, the Brewers went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
It was still 1-0 in the sixth when Monasterio made a bad throw to first on what should have been a routine groundout by leadoff man Willy Adames.
As so often happens, things snowballed from there as Dominic Smith singled and then Casey Schmitt doubled to left to tie it. After Matt Chapman struck out, Luis Matos hit a chopper to Seigler at third that he tried to field on the short hop but missed, allowing the ball to trickle into left.
Two more runs scored, and San Francisco grabbed a 3-1 lead.
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It could have been worse, as Patrick Bailey then singled. But reliever Grant Anderson and William Contreras teamed up on a sensational play to get the out at home on a bunt attempt by Drew Gilbert, with Contreras making a beautiful spinning tag behind him, and Jung Hoo Lee followed up by grounding out.
“The defense hurt us a little bit tonight,” acknowledged Murphy. His team entered the game fourth in the majors with 45 defensive runs saved. “That was a little bit of a story.”
A mixed bag for Freddy Peralta
Peralta recorded the first two outs of the game before walking his good friend Adames on four pitches.
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Two more free passes followed in the second, with Peralta responding with consecutive strikeouts to keep them from hurting him. Another walk in the third followed, tying the right-hander’s season high.
“I’ve been good getting out of those situations, but I don’t want to be there,” said Peralta, who had to work hard to get out of a jam in his previous start against the Chicago Cubs in which he walked the bases loaded. “I think that I need to be better in some little things that I’ve been struggling in.
“My plan today was to attack them up and in, lefties and righties, and for some reason I wasn’t good at that. But I stayed with my plan and why I was able to get out of the innings without damage.”
Peralta ultimately allowed only a pair of singles and struck out six, but 96 pitches over five innings isn’t quite a picture of efficiency.
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“Our bullpen was depleted, and then we saw Freddy’s velocity in the fifth really dip,” said Murphy. “He was behind in the count. I believe he probably had some more in the tank, but we can’t start risking that with our state of affairs right now.
“The error hurt us, and Grant’s been really good for us all year. But he’s not the normal guy we bring in, in a 1-0 game in the sixth. After that, we didn’t have much else. Once it became 3-1, we needed to get some length out of somebody.”
Game gets out of hand in the seventh
That somebody was Carlos Rodriguez, who took over in the seventh.
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Things got out of hand quickly against him, with Rafael Devers singling, Smith doubling and Schmitt then sending a three-run homer out to left to leave the Brewers in a 6-1 hole.
Rodriguez followed that up by walking Chapman, who then stole second and scored two batters later on a Bailey single.
“He’s been successful in the minor leagues,” Murphy said of Rodriguez. “He hasn’t really caught his rhythm in the big leagues. I’m not sure what we have, but obviously he’s right on the borderline right now. Like, ‘Hey, maybe this guy can help us.’ He settled down and pitched two decent innings (after).
“He’s got a style of pitching that isn’t going to be just strike, strike, strike, strike, strike. But that’s also effective sometimes.”
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What time is the Brewers game against the Giants?
Time: 6:10 p.m. CT.
What channel is the Brewers game on tonight?
TV channel: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin.
Brewers lineupGiants lineupBrewers schedule
Brewers vs. Giants, Aug. 24, 1:10 p.m.: Milwaukee TBA vs. San Francisco LHP Robbie Ray (10-6, 2.85). TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin, Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giants 7, Brewers 1: An ugly game all around