A day after Milwaukee’s long-proclaimed ace pitcher was unable to neutralize the injury-ridden, yet still dangerous Rockies lineup, a most unlikely candidate managed to outperform both C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets. Dave Bush, pitching perhaps the greatest game in his major league career, completely baffled the Colorado offense Thursday afternoon. He yielded one unearned run, struck out a mind-boggling thirteen, walked none, and surrendered only three hits in eight superb innings.
Trailing after the first frame 1-0, Milwaukee’s offense awoke from its slumber and tied the game in the third on a Ryan Braun single which scored lead-off hitter Rickie Weeks. The fourth inning could have been the Crew’s greatest single performance in a game this whole season. In a nutshell, they scored six runs, five with two outs off a Gabe Kapler double, a Weeks double, and a Prince Fielder triple. In the seventh, right fielder Corey Hart (recently elected to the All Star Game) padded the lead with a solo home run to deep left and Gabe Kapler (continuing to prove himself as one of the team’s best off-season acquisitions and bench players) doubled in Bill Hall to put the Brewers up 9-1. In the eighth, J.J. Hardy came through yet again, sending a pitch over the left field fence, scoring Joe Dillon, and capping Milwaukee’s scoring outburst. At the end of the day, manager Ned Yost found his club sitting in sole possession of second place in the N.L. Central and a mere four games behind the Chicago Cubs.
Alex’s Take:
Good, better, and great. That describes how I feel about the Brewer’s four game series against the Colorado Rockies, the Brewers’ offense’s performance on Thursday afternoon, and the pitching of Dave Bush. There has been talk of setting up a six-man pitching rotation once Jeff Suppan returns from his injury. Dave Bush, who has been stellar at Miller Park this season (3-2 record, 2.87 ERA before today’s brilliant performance) and Seth McClung, who has been strong away from Wisconsin (1-1 record, 3.28 ERA in 11 appearances) may share the final spot in Ned Yost’s rotation. Bush and McClung struggle away and at home respectively, thus, the move makes sense. What to be wary about is the fact that starting pitchers are often very, very, very habitual, and setting up the less-than-conventional rotation might cause them meltdowns. It is a risky move, but if it plays out well, it could really benefit the Brewers’ already strong starting pitching. The offense has been quite streaky this year, sometimes displaying dominance like today, or they play more flatly, like yesterday, so I am taking this 11 run day with a grain of salt. A great fact remains, though: they don’t have to score 11 runs a game to win when their starting pitching is this good.
