At any level of baseball, good pitching usually beats good hitting. For the Milwaukee Brewers over their last four games, their starting rotation has been much better than good.
Starting with Sunday’s win at Miami and continuing through three home games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the starters in each of those games produced a “quality start.” According to MLB.com, a quality start is defined as a starting pitcher recording a quality start when they pitch at least six innings and allow three earned runs or fewer.
Not so coincidentally, the Brewers’ fortunes followed suit. Milwaukee won all four games in that span, allowing just five runs.
In his return to a major-league mound for the first time in 22 months, Brandon Woodruff exceeded the Brewers’ wildest expectations by dominating the Miami Marlins on July 6.
Woodruff surrendered a solo home run in the fifth inning to Heriberto Hernandez but was otherwise brilliant in his long-awaited return to the big leagues. Big Woo struck out eight over six inspired innings on just 70 pitches before departing in a 3-1 win.
For the 32-year-old right-hander, nothing was expected or guaranteed.
“Honestly, I had no expectations. I had none at all,” Woodruff said. “There were different waves of it. I’d be sitting here, and it’s like, ‘Man, I’m about to throw my first game in two years.’ And just quietly think to myself, like, ‘This is such a cool deal.’”
Brewers’ skipper Pat Murphy was pleasantly surprised by Woodruff’s commanding performance.
“Nobody could have predicted six innings of two-hit ball,” Murphy said. “He was sensational. Any worries anybody had about this guy being able to pitch in his future or whatever — wow.”
Returning home following their time in South Florida, Milwaukee began a three-game series with the defending World Champions Dodgers, who own the National League’s best record.
Freddy Peralta did not bother to look at the standings before his start.
Peralta, who was named to his second All-Star game on Sunday, matched Woodruff’s dazzle with a gem of his own on Monday, July 7. Fastball Freddy struck out seven in his six innings of work, scattering five hits and lowering his ERA to 2.74, as the Brewers blew out Los Angeles, 9-1, prompting his manager Murphy to call his outing “sensational.”
Not to be outdone, rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski was next to face the Dodgers on Tuesday, July 8. The game was hyped as the “old guard facing the young gun” as Los Angeles countered with future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw in what may be his final appearance at American Family Field.
After giving up a long home run to Shohei Ohtani with his third pitch of the game, Misiorowski showed poise and brilliance beyond his years. He struck out a career-high 12 Dodgers in his six innings of work, and his early hiccup was the only run he surrendered. Once again, the Brewers were victorious, 3-1, and clinched at least a series win.
After the game, “The Miz” earned a pretty noteworthy fan: his pitching counterpart.
“That was super impressive,” Kershaw said. “That was unbelievable. It was really special. I mean, everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball and made it — I mean, I don’t know how you hit that, honestly.”
To wrap up the series and vie for a third straight victory over Los Angeles, Jose Quintana was tasked with taming the Dodgers’ bats. For his part, he did just that.
Quintana did not give up a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning, and he ceded only one run before exiting the game after the sixth inning.
Even though Quintana did not factor in the decision, the Brewers showed a flair for the dramatic in dispatching the Dodgers. Milwaukee tied the score at 2 in the 9th inning, then won the game in the 10th thanks to a Jackson Chourio walk-off winner.
For Brewers fans all across Wisconsin, the pitching performances over the past week have been nothing short of incredible and should energize the Brew Crew supporters into dreams of the postseason.
Milwaukee has tremendous starting pitching depth, especially when Tobias Myers, who is still on the mend in Triple-A Nashville, returns to the big club.
There is still much baseball to be played, but should the front end of the rotation stay healthy, they have served notice with the ability to beat anyone. They must find a way to navigate through the remainder of the summer to put themselves in contention for October baseball.
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