Brewers Week In Review: August 8 — August 14

August 14, 2022
|In Brewers
|By Ben Kenney

The Brewers are back to their over-.500 ways after a week highlighted by late-game heroics, highlight reel defense and a lot of high-leverage baseball.

This seven-day stretch wasn’t exceptional by any means, as the team dropped two of three crucial games in St. Louis over the weekend. But a few clutch swings of the bat brought them to a winning stretch — none bigger than Rowdy Tellez’s game-tying long ball during Wednesday’s walk-off victory over Tampa Bay.

The team’s struggles since the All-Star break have been well-documented — especially those of the bullpen. This week was a welcome return to normalcy thanks to mostly scoreless innings from the ‘pen (more on where it went wrong in a bit), good starting pitching and a few timely hits.

I can’t say the corner has been turned back to being a playoff frontrunner until the team overtakes the Cardinals for the top spot in the division. Looking forward to what is to come, the Brewers now get a 10-game stretch with seven against the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers and three against the lowly Reds. A winning record in the stretch to come would go a long way towards putting the Brewers back in position to win the NL Central, or capture one of the final Wild Card spots.

Here is a Brewers Week In Review that is sure to be more upbeat than the last:

 

Record: 3-2

Current Standing: 61-52 (2nd in NL Central, 1.5 behind STL)

 

The Good: Corbin Burnes

There are three guarantees in life: death, taxes and Corbin Burnes quality starts.

The Brewers ace toed the rubber Saturday in St. Louis and needed perfection to outduel what Adam Wainwright was doing for the Cardinals. He delivered a much-needed dominant start, striking out six Cardinals over seven one-run innings. The only blemish on his line was a Nolan Gorman RBI double in the bottom of the seventh, though the Brewers came right back to back Burnes up with a game-tying run off Wainwright and two game-winning runs in the 10th inning.

Burnes now boasts an 8-5 record in 23 starts, a 2.39 ERA, a WHIP of 0.92 and an NL-leading 181 strikeouts. During a pivotal series where the Cardinals came up with clutch hit after clutch hit, his start on Saturday is the one thing keeping the Cardinals’ NL Central lead at 1.5 games instead of 3.5.

An honorable mention from the week is Devin Williams, who shut the door in the 9th inning during Saturday’s win and also saved the club’s extra-innings victory over Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

Another thing worth noting is the team’s defensive performance. The week saw Tyrone Taylor take back a Ray home run, a clutch heads-up play from Rowdy Tellez to throw a runner out at third base during extras and the fundamental plays look a bit easier than they have in the past for the club.

 

The Bad: Taylor Rogers

The Brewers’ addition of Rogers from San Diego in the Josh Hader trade was supposed to be a move to create a Hader-less bullpen that could still get the job done. This week the ‘pen was better than it was last week, though the big blemish came with Rogers on the mound.

His final line from the week: 2 games, 1.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 HR, 21.60 ERA. Saturday’s return from a minor knee ailment was fine — one scoreless inning with a hit and two strikeouts. But Sunday was rough, as Rogers entered a tied game and allowed four Cardinals to cross the plate.

Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson did the initial damage with a go-ahead solo home run to left field. The big lowlight came a few batters later, when the ageless Albert Pujols went deep and broke the game wide open.

Rogers has now allowed runs in two of four appearances as a Brewer and does not appear to be in form solid enough to trust in high-leverage spots.

 

Stat Of The Week:

 

Tweets Of The Week:

 

Video(s) Of The Week:

 

Next Week: vs. LAD, @ CHC

Brewers highlight news score standings tellez video