Brewers Week In Review: August 1 — August 7

August 7, 2022
|In Brewers
|By Ben Kenney

The best way to describe the last week of Milwaukee Brewers baseball, both on and off the field, is disastrous. The club had won 7 of 9 since the All-Star break — moving its lead in the NL Central up to 3 games. Many were then looking forward to this seven-day stretch as a possible lift-off point for the season, as the trade deadline fell on Tuesday and opportunities for improvement were out there.

Well, the week felt more like an ejection than a lift-off.

On the field, the team went just 1-5 against the NL Central cellar-dwellers Pirates and Reds. They were swept in Pittsburgh as the deadline was coming and going, those losses coming as a result of blowing 3-run, 4-run and 2-run leads respectfully. The Reds then came to Milwaukee and it didn’t get much better. The Brewers won the first game 5-1, dropped the second 7-5 after a poor Aaron Ashby start, then fell 4-2 in extra innings on Sunday.

Off the field, the trade deadline happened. The Brewers’ additions: RP Taylor Rogers, RP Matt Bush, SP Dinelson Lamet, prospects Robert Gasser & Estuery Ruiz and RP Trevor Rosenthal. The departures: All-Star closer Josh Hader and prospects Tristan Peters, Mark Mathias and Antoine Kelly.

The Hader trade was puzzling, especially given the lack of significant upgrades the team made alongside the Hader move. Rogers and Bush figure to be good pieces to add to the bullpen, though it’s hard seeing this current roster as better than what it was before Hader was shipped away. Then, to add to a frightening week, the Brewers DFAed Lamet and never actually added him to the roster.

It’s hard to say how much cause and effect there is between the team dropping 5 of 6 and the trade of Hader. But it is safe to say the reactions in the clubhouse weren’t spectacular.

In the seven-day stretch, the Brewers’ lead in the NL Central has evaporated. They now sit two games back of the Cardinals in the division and two games back of both the Phillies and Padres in the Wild Card.

As I said leading off, it was a disastrous week.

If you actually want to relive it, here is your Brewers Week In Review:

 

 

Record: 1-5

Current Standing: 58-50 (2nd in NL Central)

 

The Good: Keston Hiura is back.

The Brewers recalled Hiura from Triple-A on Wednesday & in three games, the youngster went deep twice and provided a much-needed offensive spark.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to capitalize on his offensive production and ended up dropping both contests. Nevertheless, Hiura’s presence against right-handed pitchers is valuable and should be present for the rest of the season.

 

The Bad: Everything (but specifically: the bullpen).

The story of the Brewers’ week can be told by looking at how the bullpen performed.

The Josh Hader-less group pitched 20 total innings and allowed 15 runs (11 earned runs) on 24 hits. The poor performance became the deciding factor in all of the losses, including extra-innings losses on Thursday and Sunday. With this week’s performance, the group now ranks towards the bottom of Major League Baseball in nearly every statistical category since the All-Star break.

Without Josh Hader in the back end, more of these struggles could be on the way.

 

Stat Of The Week:

 

Video(s) Of The Week:

 

Tweets Of The Week:

 

Next Week: vs. TB, @ STL

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