SAN DIEGO – The fatigue had visibly set in for his starting pitcher, but Pat Murphy didn’t have much of a choice. With all three of his top late-game arms all unavailable out of the bullpen, he had to trust his starter that was spinning a gem into the seventh inning Aug. 10 at Petco Park.
With one swing of the bat, that gem lost its luster.
Having recorded an out in the seventh inning for only the second time in his career, Logan Henderson allowed a game-deciding two-run home run to Jackson Merrill that, paired with a silent showing from the offense, sent the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-2 defeat against the San Diego Padres to kick off a weeklong West Coast trip.
“It felt like it was my first time going seven ups, but it’s no excuse,” Henderson said. “I felt good to go. Velo may have been down a little bit but I felt like I was able to get three outs there.”
While the loss was pegged on Henderson – for only the second time all year – it would be hard to find him at fault for the outcome. With Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill all down due to heavy recent workloads, Henderson at one point retired 12 straight and pitched deeper into a big-league game than he ever had.
The Brewers bats, meanwhile, created minimal chances following a Christian Yelich home run in the second, finishing 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position. The Padres combination of Casey Mize, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon and lights-out closer Mason Miller faced one over the minimum over the final seven innings.
It ended along those lines in fitting fashion as former Padre Brandon Lockridge was caught stealing second for the final out as the potential tying run for the Brewers (74-45).
“We got to score more than two runs on the road to win,” Murphy said. “Logan pitched well enough to win.”
Logan Henderson cracks in seventh
A low pitch count due to a free-swinging Padres team allowed Henderson to stay on the mound into the seventh for the first time all year. While it began smoothly with a pop-out, it quickly cratered.
Ty France smoked a one-out single to left, bringing Merrill up as the go-ahead run. The Padres center fielder took a 1-1 changeup just above the knees and sent a no-doubter through the marine layer 431 feet to dead center.
A walk to the ensuing batter marked the end of the night for Henderson, who battled valiantly before simply running out of gas.
“I knew we were short in the bullpen today, so that was the goal, was to give length and win the game,” Henderson said. “Got one of those two, but one’s more important, for sure.”
Henderson got Manny Machado to pop out on the first pitch of the seventh – the fifth out in an at-bat of one or two pitches since the start of the fourth inning – but the signs that he was tiring were evident. That pitch was 89.8 mph, then the next fastball to France was 89.7 mph. Henderson was losing his arm slot, too, dropping down to a more sidearm angle.
“He was out of gas but with our three leverage arms out, we didn’t think we had good, leverage coverage for three,” Murphy said. “His pitches were still under control.”
A 1-1 changeup to Merrill didn’t get the depth it needed. Henderson threw only one changeup with less vertical movement all night, and Merrill was sitting all over this one.
“Trying to be down and away,” Henderson said. “You can’t throw it [over the middle]. That’s the only place I was trying not to throw it. I knew it was gone. It sucks.”
Casey Mize settles in after early home run
Mize was among the top pitching names floated at the trade deadline before ultimately landing in San Diego at the final hour, but you can be assured the Brewers were involved in discussions for the former Detroit right-hander.
And after Yelich’s homer in the second, Mize allowed nothing.
Milwaukee stranded a Jake Bauers one-out double in the third, then Jackson Chourio singled and was caught stealing to end the fifth. That was all that the visitors could muster up despite only whiffing twice on 21 swings against Mize’s top two pitches, his four-seamer and slider.
Padres get one back on Ty France’s homer
San Diego responded to Yelich’s homer to left with one of its own in the second as France deposited a hanging changeup from Henderson.
After France fouled off a pair of elevated heaters, the Brewers tried to get him to flail over a changeup but Henderson didn’t get it down enough (or at all) and the Padres first baseman sent it 369 feet and 106.5 mph.
Lowered in order, Contreras and Yelich deliver
Murphy spent five minutes before the game discussing his decision to bat William Contreras sixth and Yelich seventh in the order.
“I mean, we are where we are with them performing the way they’ve performed,” Murphy said. “It would make a huge difference if they start to perform and get the results they’ve gotten in the past. I firmly believe that will happen. But if it doesn’t, we’re going to get other people ready to produce. I trust them. I just do.”
It took one plate appearance each for that trust to be paid off.
Yelich followed a Contreras one-out walk with an opposite-field homer off Mize in the second. The Brewers designated hitter batted below sixth in the starting lineup for the first time since 2015; Contreras was batting sixth for the first time as a Brewer.
Brewers probable pitchers and schedule
Brewers at Padres, Aug. 11, 8:40 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Kyle Harrison (9-2, 2.84) vs. San Diego RHP Walker Buehler (6-5, 5.07). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Padres, Aug. 12, 3:10 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Dustin May (8-7, 4.30) vs. San Diego LHP Robbie Ray (10-7, 3.24). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Padres 3, Brewers 2: Thin bullpen. Thinner offense. A tough loss.
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
