Debates about bunting, however, are much older than that. One of the famous critics of sacrifice bunting was legendary Orioles manager Earl Weaver, and one of his most famous quotes was \u201cWhen you play for one run, that’s usually all you get.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And\u00a0therein\u00a0lies the key for this Brewers team. Their ability to drive home a run with\u00a0small\u00a0ball is an asset, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0only valuable when a small number of runs is all they need. Lost in the hype over a pair of softly\u00a0struck game-winning hits was this important detail: In a season where the average MLB team is scoring 4.4 runs per\u00a0game\u00a0the Brewers only scored four across a span of two games and won them both. The bunts may have been key moments, but the Brewers were only in position to use them because their pitching and defense held the Blue\u00a0Jays to\u00a0a run each across those two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strong Pitching, No Decisions\u00a0<\/p>\n Lost in the offensive highlights from those two games were a pair of extremely strong starting pitching outings that, unfortunately, both resulted in no-decisions: On Wednesday\u00a0Chad Patrick became the first Brewers starter of the season to record an out in the seventh inning, and on Thursday Brandon Sproat improved upon it by getting two of them. Given their strong\u00a0starts\u00a0the Brewers only needed five innings from their bullpen across the two days and were able to get scoreless performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n While small ball tactics may be\u00a0relatively uncommon\u00a0in today\u2019s game, winning by preventing runs is not. From the start of the 2025 MLB season through Thursday\u2019s games teams were 931-60 in games where they allowed one run or less. They were also 450-87 in games where their starting pitcher worked 6 \u2153 or more innings and allowed one run or less.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For the\u00a0Brewers\u00a0this season the magic number has been three: After this weekend\u2019s Marlins\u00a0series\u00a0they were 8-0 this season in games where they allowed two runs or less, but in games where they allowed three-or-more they were 4-9.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Much like last season, the shape and speed of the Brewers\u2019 offense might look different from many of their rivals atop the run-scoring list. Their ability to use speed and strategy to win games, however, depends heavily on their pitching staff\u2019s ability to put up\u00a0low numbers. To this point\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0been up to the\u00a0challenge, even if they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0always get the attention they\u00a0deserve for\u00a0doing so.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t Kyle Lobner covers the Milwaukee Brewers in the Shepherd Express\u2019 weekly On Deck Circle column. He has written about the Brewers and Minor League Baseball since 2008.<\/p>\n![\"email](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/newsletter-icon.jpg\"){kind=icon}
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\n\t\t Kyle Lobner<\/a><\/p>\n