Robert Gasser and Cooper Pratt both found themselves in Pat Murphy’s crosshairs, and both responded Wednesday night.
For Gasser, the issue was his last start. Against the Mariners last Thursday, Murphy yanked him mid-count in the fourth inning after he fell behind 2-0 to Randy Arozarena.
Gasser had been working with a 6-0 lead after the first inning, but the outing never settled in. He sprayed the ball around, walked four and hit one, and Murphy decided he had seen enough.
It was another rough chapter in what has been an unusual season for Gasser. His 4.59 ERA, 4.45 FIP and 4.11 SIERA are all below average, and his command has largely been shaky since Tommy John surgery.
Even in some of his better outings, when he has limited runs or kept the ball off barrels, too many pitches have still lived near the middle of the plate or missed in places that never had a chance. He has hit eight batters, though his walk rate sits at a solid 7%.
The Brewers’ schedule has also forced some creativity. Even after grinding through 17 games in 17 days, they have been using six starters to protect their young arms.
Two straight weeks with an off day made the rotation shuffle more complicated, and the club had already found one workaround last Tuesday by using Shane Drohan for two innings of relief behind Kyle Harrison, then starting Drohan on Sunday to keep Harrison on six days’ rest. This time, Gasser was the one skipping a start to keep things on track, and he was expected to serve as a bridge out of the bullpen Wednesday night.
Instead, circumstances changed fast when a comebacker struck Dustin May and ended his outing after one pitch.
That turned Gasser into emergency long relief, and he delivered one of his best performances of the year. He threw a first-pitch strike to 17 of 24 hitters, put 57% of his pitches in the strike zone and limited the Mets to only two hard-hit balls.
He also got whiffs on 26% of swings. By the time he was done, he had covered 5 ⅓ innings, allowed one run, saved the bullpen and helped turn what could have been a mess into an 8-1 Brewers win.
Pratt’s night followed a different path, but the bounce-back mattered just as much. He was back in the starting lineup after Murphy benched him for what the manager viewed as a lack of hustle and a few other small mistakes.
In the moment, Pratt had been jammed high and inside and needed a beat to get out of the box. Once he located the ball, he ran to first.
His bloop near the right-field line stayed in the air long enough that he was never going to reach second against Carson Benge’s elite throwing arm. Murphy later said, after seeing a replay, that Pratt ran harder than he thought he did in real time.
Pratt handled the aftermath the right way with the media, and he backed it up on the field Wednesday by legging out infield singles for both of his hits.
Murphy’s approach has a way of stirring debate. At times, it can look like he leans too hard on his college background to enforce standards on big leaguers, even if Pratt, at 22, is still college-aged. That kind of benching can feel embarrassing or patronizing if it isn’t handled well, and it can create more problems than it solves.
Whether the message always lands is hard to pin down. Maybe Gasser and Pratt would have turned in good nights anyway.
But neither situation seems to have caused new trouble, and that matters. Compared with some of Murphy’s in-game decisions and workload choices, his touch with people and his feel for the emotional side of managing are much tougher to knock.
It may even be his strongest trait as a leader.
The Brewers need Gasser to keep giving them useful innings, especially with limited bullpen depth on the 40-man roster and innings concerns in the rotation. They also need Pratt to stay fundamentally sound.
Murphy has made it clear he intends to hold that line, and he has shown several times that he won’t budge from it. However it came together, Wednesday night was the result he and the Brewers wanted.
In Other News...
Brewers Suddenly Face A Dustin May Problem They Feared
Dustin Mays fourth start in a Brewers uniform ended almost before it began, with the right-hander leaving after being struck in the back by a line drive on the games first pitch against the Mets. Milwaukee had to pivot immediately, turning to Robert Gasser earlier than planned even though Gasser was already lined up to start later in the series. It was the kind of abrupt in-game scramble every pitching staff tries to avoid, especially when a newcomer is still trying to settle into a rotation spot.
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For Milwaukee, the appeal is simple: when Chourio is locked in, he adds a dangerous extra layer to an order that already needs big nights from its top bats. He is one of the better home run prop targets on the board, joining Cody Bellinger and Hunter Goodman as players drawing attention for the same reason, though the betting numbers could still move before first pitch. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Have A New Outfield Prospect Worth Watching Closely
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Even so, Milwaukees outfield future still has a name worth tracking closely in Brailyn Antunez. The 18-year-old has surged since moving up to Low-A, and MLB Pipeline recently labeled him the hottest hitting prospect in the Brewers system. With Frias and Ragsdale gone, Antunezs rise gives the organization a fresh reason to believe its next wave of outfield help may already be taking shape. [Read more 🡒]