LOS ANGELES -- Brewers fans probably can’t spell Strzelecki, as in Peter Strzelecki, a former undrafted free agent who has never been in a Major League Spring Training camp. But he’s in the big leagues this year, pitching big innings for a team trying to hang on in a postseason chase.
Hoby Milner is pitching big innings for the Brewers this year after bouncing up and down from the Majors last year and finishing with a 5.40 ERA.
Matt Bush is pitching big innings for the Brewers in his first healthy season in four years after coming to Milwaukee in a midseason trade.
When every game is a close game -- see Monday’s 4-0 win over the Dodgers, which was a 1-0 game going into the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium -- manager Craig Counsell has no choice but to expand the group of bullpen arms he relies on to pitch in winnable games. That group just dealt Los Angeles its first shutout loss at Dodger Stadium all season.
“Whatever the number is, there have been so many games basically determined in the final at-bat,” Counsell said. “Our starters have done a pretty good job through this stretch, it’s just that we’re in close games, games that aren’t decided until the eighth, ninth inning. It feels like it’s every day, but it’s at least five of seven days a week or six of seven days a week. That means we’d better get some guys a rest and the other guys have to step up.
“This is the time of the season that tests your pitching on both the starting and relieving end of the game.”
The Brewers succeeded on both ends Monday. Eric Lauer pitched five scoreless innings to enhance his impressive résumé against the Dodgers (7-1, 2.71 ERA in 11 career starts) and departed with a lead thanks to Christian Yelich, who threw out Justin Turner at home plate in the second, and Luis Urías, who replaced an injured Mike Brosseau and homered in his first at-bat in the fourth.
After Lauer reached 98 pitches through five innings of a duel with Dodgers left-hander Julio Urías, Counsell trusted the bullpen the rest of the way. He got three outs from Strzelecki, four from Milner, two from Bush and then three from Jason Alexander after Yelich, Luis Urías and Keston Hiura drove in a run apiece in the top of the ninth inning for some breathing room.
That combination gave the Brewers -- on the heels of Sunday’s win over the Cubs in Chicago -- their second pair of back-to-back victories in August and kept them five games back of the surging Cardinals in the National League Central standings, while picking up a half-game on the idle Padres in the chase for the NL’s third and final Wild Card berth. Milwaukee is 1 1/2 games back of San Diego, but it must finish with a better record to make the postseason because the Padres hold the tiebreaker.
Credit the Brewers’ all-hands-on-deck pitching for this one.
“That’s always been the thought behind our bullpen, it’s a ‘run-prevention unit,’” Lauer said. “We have guys who can go in there at any given time, no matter how high leverage it might be. We’re not going to depend on just one or two guys, we’re going to have a fully-stocked bullpen that’s going to get outs.”
Lauer also did his part against the Dodgers.
“We just can’t crack the code,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said.
Monday’s game put a spotlight on Strzelecki, a 27-year-old who was born in Queens, N.Y., but grew up in Florida and lost his father to a heart attack while pitching in college at South Florida. Passed over in the 2018 MLB Draft, the right-hander signed with the Brewers and began a steady rise through the Minors with a knack for missing bats.
Now, Strzelecki has 16 big league innings under his belt and a 2.81 ERA.
“He’s really taken a big step forward this year,” Counsell said. “He didn’t get in a Spring Training game. He was an extra guy and never got in a game, but had a very, very good season and has come up here and shown that he can get good hitters out. The swing-and-miss is kind of the thing you start to take note of. There’s swing-and-misses in the strike zone every at-bat. When you start to see that, you know a guy has got good stuff.
“Him and Hoby pitched in a tight spot. Those guys did a heck of a job and made it easier on the rest of the bunch.”
What does Strzelecki want his story to say about pitching?
“Never give up, man,” Strzelecki said. “Be confident no matter what anyone tells you. Have a good group around you and be confident. That’s it.”
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