Aaron Ashby keeps showing up in the biggest spots for the Brewers, and by now the postseason numbers are starting to look absurd.
In Game 2 of the World Series, it was the left-hander - not Trevor Megill, despite Megill’s 30 regular-season saves - who handled the final outs in a 5-4 Milwaukee win. That victory pushed the Brewers to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, and it gave Ashby another save to add to a run that has turned him into one of the defining bullpen arms of October.
Ashby’s playoff line says plenty on its own: 15 ⅔ innings, five hits, zero runs, three walks and 17 strikeouts. The most consecutive scoreless innings to open a postseason in MLB history belongs to Andrew Miller at 16. Ashby sits right behind him at 15 ⅔, with Andy Hawkins at 15 ⅓ and Goose Gossage at 14 ⅓.
That’s a remarkable jump from his regular season, when he posted a 3.12 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. The Brewers knew he could help. They didn’t know he’d become this kind of force.
The margins have been tight from the start. In Game 1 of the NLDS, Ashby inherited a tie game against the Padres and retired all four hitters he faced.
In Game 2, he entered with Milwaukee trailing by a run and held the score there before the Brewers won in walk-off fashion. In Game 4, he came in with a one-run lead and threw three hitless, scoreless innings to earn the win after starter Robert Gasser couldn’t get through five.
The same pattern kept repeating in the NLCS. Ashby worked two scoreless innings in Game 1 against the Dodgers with a one-run lead.
In Game 2, he was back in the same kind of spot and finished the game with the final five outs for a save. Then in the clincher, Game 4, he entered again protecting a one-run edge and delivered a three-inning save to send Milwaukee to the National League pennant.
The World Series has brought more of the same. Ashby has gotten 10 outs without allowing a run while protecting a two-run lead in Game 1 and a one-run lead in Game 2.
“He does what it takes,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Saturday’s win. “It's unconventional.
Multiple innings in relief. It's Goose Gossage-like.
I guess we had a guy like that here too, Rollie [Fingers]. Multiple-inning relief.
Sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes you go with it.”
That’s the kind of role Ashby has carved out for himself - and it’s made even more eye-catching by where he came from. He was a fourth-round pick out of Crowder College.
The larger picture around him is just as strong. Milwaukee’s game is built on balance: a lineup that hits timely homers even if power isn’t its statistical calling card, a rotation led by extremely talented young arms, and a bullpen that has been both deep and excellent. Ashby, though, has stood above the rest all postseason.
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