HOUSTON – Brandon Sproat has great stuff, there’s no doubt about that.
But there comes a point when the production needs to match the perception – and that time appears to be now based upon the way manager Pat Murphy summed up the right-hander’s performance in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 9-2 loss to the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on Saturday afternoon, May 30.
“I think he took a step back,” said Murphy. “I don’t think he was very good.”
It was a marked reversal from what the skipper had to say about Sproat just six days earlier after he struggled his way through four innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Murphy essentially saying the team planned to stick with the 25-year-old in the rotation despite his inconsistency.
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A third straight start of fewer than five innings and fifth in his last six was the takeaway from this one, with Sproat needing 95 pitches to navigate 4 ⅓ innings against an Astros lineup featuring one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, Yordan Alvarez, and another slugger in Christian Walker but not much more than that.
Sproat scattered six hits while allowing five runs and struck out four with the velocity on his three best pitches – sinker, cutter and four-seamer – all down a couple clicks.
He induced only five swings and misses, three fewer than Carlos Rodriguez, the man who relieved him, and in general looked little like the highly touted prospect the Brewers believed they were trading for when they sent Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets.
“I mean, it sucks right now, to be honest with you,” a dejected Sproat said afterward.
If things might have broken a little differently early on, the outcome could have been much different for Sproat.
Staked to a 1-0 lead in the first, Cam Smith was on second with one out when Jake Meyers singled to right. Jake Bauers came up throwing as Smith headed for home and delivered a strike to William Contreras, who applied a sweeping tag at the plate.
Smith was ruled safe but the Brewers challenged, and replays appeared to show Contreras tagging Smith before he was able to touch the plate. But after a lengthy review the call was upheld and the score tied at 1-1.
Sproat recovered to get a flyout and to within a batter of keeping things even when Jeremy Peña launched a two-run homer to left, a shot that put the Astros ahead to stay.
“William was saying he thought he got his knee before his hip touches the plate. We both thought he was out, but unfortunately the call stood,” Sproat said. “You can’t sit there and dwell on it. The call didn’t go our way there, but it’s part of the game.”
Sproat recovered to retire six straight and seven of eight from there with a Jackson Chourio single in the fifth pulling Milwaukee to within 3-2 when things again went haywire.
This time the trouble began when Peña singled to lead off and stole second. After an Alvarez groundout, Sproat hit Walker. That left Murphy to call upon Rodriguez, who was greeted by a Taylor Trammell line drive to Andrew Vaughn right down the line at first base.
Had Vaughn caught the ball cleanly he could have stepped on the base and ended the inning. Instead, the ball skipped off his glove and Brice Turang’s throw home from behind the bag was late as Peña slid in.
An Isaac Paredes two-run double followed, closing the book on Sproat and effectively ending the Brewers’ chances.
The replay going against Sproat was certainly a bummer but as he noted, he needed to move past it. And for the most part it appeared he did – but what Sproat had to offer on the mound after that wasn’t overly inspiring even though he did strike out three and limited hard contact.
“It’s like anything else – it all could derail you. But it shouldn’t,” said Murphy. “You should be able to minimize the damage. It was still a 3-2 ballgame in the fifth. We’re talking about getting him past 80 pitches and all that kind of stuff.
“Go ahead and do it, son.”
Sproat now has logged the third-most starts on the team with nine, behind Jacob Misiorowski’s 11 and Kyle Harrison’s 10, but his 6.24 ERA and WHIP of 1.53 are unsightly. He’s striking out more than a batter per inning, but also allowed more than double the amount of homers – 10 – than the next-closest pitcher on Milwaukee’s staff.
And while Brandon Woodruff and Logan Henderson are currently sidelined with injuries the Brewers still have other avenues they can explore should they decide Sproat needs some time at Class AAA Nashville to work on tightening up his overall game.
“I mean, we’re not going to tolerate too many duds like this, that’s for sure,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to win. We’re not rebuilding. We might be using some young pitchers. He doesn’t have quite the experience that some of the other guys have, and he’s done some really, really good stuff, so it’s not like he’s not going to get another chance.
“I just thought he took a step back today.”
Based on Sproat’s demeanor, he realizes time may be running short for him to get on track.
“Strikes early and often,” he said when asked how he thinks he needs to do that. “If it was my choice I’d go nine (innings) every single time, but that’s not reality. Let’s just start with getting through five right now. I feel like innings three and four (today), you know what it needs to look like to be able to get to the fifth, into the sixth, the seventh and so on.
“Innings three and four, that’s what it needs to look like.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brandon Sproat struggles once again, takes ‘step back’ in loss to Astros
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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