Someone send notice to those at Fenway Park and in the greater Boston area: There may be some bats missing from Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Brewers were flying high the night of April 6 from the cozy confines of the Red Sox visiting clubhouse, having just scored another eight runs to earn a hard-fought victory that pushed their record to 8-2. They were playing Brewers baseball, and doing it at an annoyingly high level for their opponents.
The ensuing five days have been a cold, hard reminder of how quickly the game changes on you.
For the fourth straight game, the Brewers were mired in an offensive doldrum, mustering up only two hits in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on April 11 at American Family Field. Behind the work of soft-tossing, speed-mixing journeyman Foster Griffin and four relievers, the Nationals put the Brewers to sleep over nine innings of mostly drowsy at-bats.
“We don’t have much conviction, it didn’t seem like,” manager Pat Murphy said.
Milwaukee, until William Contreras led off the ninth with a home run to right, went 16 consecutive innings without scoring against one of baseball’s worst pitching staffs – Washington hurlers had an ERA north of 6.00 coming into the series. It had scored in just one of its previous 27 innings and two of its last 36, to boot.
“The game’s not that easy,” Murphy said. “You got to go through your ups and downs and this turned pretty quick for us. Things were going pretty good. We ran into [Garrett] Crochet and then Sonny Gray. And these two [Nationals starters] have been really good against us. It is what it is.”
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The Brewers hit two balls over 100 mph, resulting in a groundout and flyout. There was never a sense of a burgeoning rally. Had it not been for Joey Ortiz’s soft liner up the middle that found grass in the sixth, they would have been no-hit until Contreras’ homer in the ninth.
A night after their manager spoke that he felt his team played with no edge, it certainly appeared as if the offense, one through nine, did nothing to disprove him until the ninth.
Contreras’ blast gave the Brewers some momentarily life, as they put the winning run on base when Christian Yelich reached on a strikeout and wild pitch and Brandon Lockridge and Garrett Mitchell walked. But, in fitting fashion for the night, it ended in a whimper as an Ortiz tapper rolled about 35 feet harmlessly in front of the plate for the final out.
Jake Bauers leaves ’em loaded in sixth
With a chance to finally break through on offense, Jake Bauers hit a first-pitch groundout with the bases loaded and the Brewers down two in the sixth.
Milwaukee got its first hit of the game when Ortiz led off the frame with a single to center. Brice Turang followed with a walk to put the Brewers in business.
But Luis Rengifo, now hitless in his last 14 at-bats, popped up on the infield to continue his skid. The Nationals brought in reliever Brad Lord, who got William Contreras and Bauers to bounce out with an intentional walk of Christian Yelich sandwiched in between.
The goose egg was the 14th in a row by the Brewers offense, which has been held scoreless in 25 of its last 26 innings.
And this one felt even worse because of the way the at-bats went. Rengifo’s pop up came on the second pitch he saw, while Contreras and Bauers each pounded their first pitches from Lord right into the ground. Contreras’ came on a sinker up and in, which sawed him off for a weak tapper to the right side.
“I’m not panicking,” Murphy said. “I still trust the ball club. We are injured, we are inexperienced.”
Brewers no-hit through five innings
It’s…Foster Griffin’s world and we’re just living in it?
The Nationals lefty, despite not featuring any semblance of overpowering stuff, took it to the Brewers offense with five no-hit innings out of the gate. While Griffin, a 30-year-old with two career big-league starts to his name, only generated four whiffs, he dominated through a deep seven-pitch mix and excellent cutter command.
The Brewers’ average exit velocity against him was 85.6 mph. Through the five no-hit innings, they managed two walks but didn’t get a runner to second base.
“This is this kid’s third good start in a row,” Murphy said. “He just keeps you off-balanced. Those at-bats in the sixth, some tough ones. You got to get through this period. You got to stay with your team and let this be a time that helps us. We can really show our character when things aren’t going well.”
Nationals finally break the ice
After four pitching-dominant innings, a trio of loud swings against Kyle Harrison led to the game’s first scoring.
Harrison, who hadn’t allowed a hit until CJ Abrams’ two-out bloop in the fourth inning, gave up a single to Jacob Young, Nasim Nunez double and James Wood booming two-run double all within the first four hitters of the fifth. That ended the left-hander’s night after it had been sublime up until that point.
Through the first four innings, Harrison had allowed only three base runners and no contact above 93.9 mph. But Nunez and Wood, two lefties, squared up fastballs in the zone that had been Harrison’s bread and butter to that point.
Kyle Harrison stays in after scary play at first
For a few minutes in the first inning it appeared that Harrison might have to depart after facing one hitter, which would have been a brutal blow to a bullpen that covered six innings the night before.
On James Wood’s chopper to first to lead off the game, Gary Sánchez mishandled the ball initially, throwing off the timing with Harrison covering first. Sánchez, not a first baseman by trade, then chucked an overhand laser to first, which further tripped up Harrison and sent him tumbling to the ground. After a four-minute delay in which Harrison was grimacing heavily on the ground for lengthy periods, he shook off the fall and stayed in the game.
“A little sore,” Harrison said. “Just had a dead knee thing. It got me straight on it and just needed some time out there to really just feel myself again and needed a couple warmup pitches.”
Harrison went for imaging on the knee after the game but expressed minimal concern about a lingering issue.
“I’m not too worried about it, honestly,” he said. “If I’m able to pitch four innings on it, I should be fine. I’m not too worried, but definitely was shocked. Not the best time at the start of a game to have to pitch through that.”
The Brewers will also get imaging on Brandon Sproat’s knee after he got banged up trying to make a diving play, though he, like Harrison, stayed in the game well after that and worked a fourth inning in his first taste of success this year. Sproat allowed one run and walked three but also picked off two runners.
What time is the Brewers game tonight?
Time: 6:10 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on tonight?
TV channel: Brewers.TV.
Brewers 2026 record
8-6.
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Brewers schedule
Brewers vs. Nationals, April 12, 1:10 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 5.91) vs. Washington RHP Zack Littell (0-1, 3.60) TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Off-day Monday, April 13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers offense mostly quiet again in frustrating loss to Nationals
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
