LOS ANGELES – Ladies and gentlemen, the Milwaukee Brewers in a nutshell.
On a diamond littered with stars and in a ballpark featuring just shy of 50,000 onlookers, Quinn Priester and Caleb Durbin outshined the highest-payroll-in-baseball reigning world champions.
In a game that just about perfectly sums up this sleight-of-hand ballclub, the Brewers opened the second half of the season the same way they concluded the first, extending their winning streak to eight with a 2-0 over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on July 18.
While Priester and Milwaukee’s bullpen kept Shohei Ohtani and company at bay yet again — the Dodgers have mustered up only four runs in four games, all losses, to the Brewers this month — it was a 5-foot-6 rookie who was responsible for all the game’s scoring.
“These are guys that nobody has ever heard of,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “There’s nobody in Japan who knows Caleb Durbin. No one in the whole country.”
BOX SCORE: Brewers 2, Dodgers 0
Quinn Priester delivers his best start yet
There certainly were those across the sea who became familiar with the name Quinn Priester after seeing him maneuver magnificently through the Dodgers for six shutout innings.
A Dodgers offense with the highest OPS in the NL was mystified as Priester became only the fifth pitcher in the major leagues this season to record multiple games of double-digit strikeouts and no runs.
Priester’s first such outing came not all that long ago, but facing the team with the best record in the National League entering the day, he one-upped himself.
Priester finished one punch out shy of his career-high of 11, set June 28 over seven one-hit frames against the Colorado Rockies. His “game score” of 84 in that outing remains the top performance by a Milwaukee hurler this season.
Priester’s game score was 76 against Los Angeles, the third-highest by a Brewers starter.
Given the quality of opponent, it had to be his best start yet.
“I just felt like I was in control of everything,” Priester said. “Felt like I was hitting spots, executing the game plan. The cutter definitely was working more today, especially against those right-handed hitters. We were able to keep them off-balance that way, and then we finished with a lot of fastballs for strikeouts, which is good to see.”
Priester hasn’t often flashed the cutter in the way he did in this one, mixing and matching with the sinker off of the same lines to stay in command early in count. All of Priester’s strikeouts came via a cutter or sinker, including three strike-three whiffs on cutters in the first inning to Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in order.
“It’s been a 50-50 pitch,” Murphy said of Priester’s cutter this year. “It hasn’t been that great. It was effective tonight and they had to honor it. When you’ve go the ball going one way and another one going another way, it’s tough to handle it. He was as crisp early as I’ve seen him.”
A moment of trust from the manager
As reporters gathered in the crammed confines of the visiting manager’s office pregame, Murphy, as he’s wont to do, gave his unfiltered thoughts on the outing ahead for his right-hander.
“Are we really going to (expect) that Priester can go six against this lineup?” Murphy asked.
A few hours later, Priester not only walked off the mound after making Betts look silly for the final out of the sixth but made a fiery petition to pitching coach Chris Hook to take the ball for the seventh, too.
“I was having a lot of fun out there,” Priester said. “Felt really really good. I didn’t feel like the stuff was coming down yet. If they needed another inning out of me, I was pretty much like hey man I’m ready to go. I’m feeling good.”
Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig and Trevor Megill faced the minimum over the final three frames to seal the victory, but before that, the sixth inning was a symbol of trust from manager to pitcher.
Eyes shifted to the first-base dugout as Ohtani strolled to the dish with a runner on and one out while left-hander Jared Koenig sat ready to go in the bullpen. Murphy didn’t budge.
“We were going to take him out for Ohtani and I just felt like he deserved it,” Murphy said.
Priester responded with a cutter that ate up Ohtani’s hands for a fielder’s choice grounder to first. On pitch number seven to Betts, the next batter, catcher William Contreras called for Priester’s unexpected best pitch of the night: a cutter up. Betts haplessly gave a half-hearted hack for Priester’s 10th strikeout of the night, followed by a loud scream into the southern California night.
“I hope Priester realizes how good that outing was,” Murphy said.
Caleb Durbin delivers another powerful swing
The all-star break sure proved restful for Durbin.
The Brewers third baseman entered the evening with 11 base-hits of 100+ mph this season, including only seven extra-base hits. He delivered two across two at-bats to drive in the game’s only runs.
After the hardest-hit base knock of his big-league career for a double that got the Brewers on the board in the fifth, Durbin took matters into his own hands for the second run of the game, launching a 3-2 fastball at the top of the zone over the fence in center for a solo homer.
It was an impressive piece of hitting from Durbin, who reached full extension to get to the pitch from Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates and muscled it 410 feet to straightaway center.
“It felt good when I looked a the replay,” Durbin said. “I thought it was middle-up, so to see it was dotted up and away, it’s obviously encouraging knowing I can drive that pitch to center out of the ballpark. That’s something I haven’t done before, so definitely a cool feeling and good to know I have that in the tank.”
As the July 31 trade deadline approaches, Durbin continues to make a case that the Brewers don’t need to go out and acquire a third baseman to replace him. He’s now batting .265 with a .732 OPS that is above league average by a healthy margin while also playing steady defense.
Durbin’s first RBI gives Brewers the lead
Dodgers star righty Tyler Glasnow had carved the Brewers up through four scoreless innings, but he was matched pitch-for-pitch by Priester.
Durbin then delivered a smash down the third-base line moments after snaring one with his glove to kick off an inning-ending double play, taking a Glasnow 2-0 sinker and smoking it 108.8 mph off the bat. The liner sailed just over the head of Tommy Edman for a double into the corner that scored Isaac Collins and gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.
Durbin’s double play was a part of a good night with the gloves for the Crew, as William Contreras also made an acrobatic catch behind the plate to end the second and Joey Ortiz secured the final out with a slick charging, barehanded snag-and-throw to retire Betts.
“The catch by William goes unnoticed,” Murphy said. “Line-drive double play, and Ortiz’s play at the end was unbelievable. We played good defense.”
What time is the Brewers game today?
Time: 9:10 p.m. CT.
What channel is the Brewers game on today?
TV channel: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin.
Brewers lineup
Dodgers lineup
Brewers schedule
Brewers at Dodgers, July 19 6:10 p.m. CT: Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (11-4, 2.66) vs. Los Angeles RHP Emmet Sheehan (1-0, 2.03) TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Dodgers, July 20 3:10 p.m. CT: Milwaukee LHP Jose Quintana (6-3, 3.28) vs. Los Angeles LHP Clayton Kershaw (4-1, 3.38) TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 2, Dodgers 0: Win streak moves to 8 behind Quinn Priester’s most impressive start yet
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
