MILWAUKEE -- Jared Koenig, one of the relievers who worked hard during the Brewers’ grueling stretch of 19 games over 18 consecutive days, intended to spend part of Tuesday’s off-day blowing off steam at the shooting range. Catcher William Contreras planned a spa day and some pool time. For second baseman Brice Turang, it was laundry day followed by a walk to dinner somewhere downtown. Infielder Isaac Collins intended to spend the morning at his favorite downtown coffee shop before a walk or cycle on the Oak Leaf Trail. Reliever Aaron Ashby planned family time and furniture shopping. |
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Associate manager Rickie Weeks had two fantasy football drafts on the docket, including one that keeps him connected with his college teammates. The question was whether to draft at home or out on the town. Reliever Abner Uribe might not leave his bedroom. He intended to sleep in and listen to music all day. Whatever the Brewers plan to do to relax, they've earned it. The stretch of 19 games in 18 days saw a franchise-record-setting win streak reach 14 games in Cincinnati before an extended five-game series in Chicago, a disappointing homestand against the Giants and D-backs that saw All-Star closer Trevor Megill land on the injured list, before wrapping up with two more big series that saw Jackson Chourio and Joey Ortiz return to the lineup. Finally, it was time to take a break. |
It had been a while. The schedule will tell you it was the team’s first open date since Aug. 14, when Milwaukee was 12 victories into its 14-game winning streak. But as noted by Brewers sideline reporter Sophia Minnaert, one of the handful of staffers who shoulders the same unrelenting schedule as the players, even that wasn’t a true day off. The Brewers traveled to Cincinnati on the evening of Aug. 14. If you want to find the Brewers’ last full day off, you have to go all the way back to Aug. 7. They returned home from Atlanta at a decent hour the night before and had a full day off before hosting the Mets the following night. “It’s part of the game that you play this many games in a row,” Turang said. “When the off-day comes, you just relax and recover mentally and physically. I think there are parts of the game we can dial in a little bit more, but that’s every team at this time.
“Moving on to September, we just have to stay focused. When we play our game the right way, good things happen.”
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For infielder Caleb Durbin and starter Quinn Priester, it was a chance to go home. Priester, who hails from Cary, Ill., had lunch plans with his dad and planned to grill steaks for dinner with his mom. Durbin grew up in Chicago’s northern suburbs and said one off-day feels like 10 when you get to spend it at home. “You’re kind of just in a robot mindset. It’s more discipline than [needing] motivation at this point,” Durbin said. “And think about it. We started with three bangers at Cincinnati, then to Chicago. So it’s not like they’ve been easy games, either. But I don’t think we were ever like, ‘Man, we can’t wait for this off-day.’ We’re just in go mode.” That’s especially true for the Brewers’ hard-worked relievers, who are the offensive linemen of Major League Baseball -- so critical to moving a team forward, and so rarely recognized for it. Remember, this stretch began with the bullpen gobbling up 7 2/3 innings during the comeback in Cincinnati from an 8-1 deficit in the second inning on Aug. 15 for victory No. 13 in the winning streak. |
Over the past 18 days, no team asked more of its bullpen than the Brewers, who got 75 1/3 innings from relievers from Aug. 15 through the end of the month. The next-hardest-worked bullpen belonged to the Orioles, who covered 65 2/3 innings in that same span. “We’ve just sucked it up,” Koenig said. “There’s no point in complaining about it, because the schedule’s not going away. I wouldn’t say we’ve played our best baseball during this stretch, but we’ve shown a lot of grit and tenacity.” One Brewers player did plan to work on Tuesday. Jose Quintana is scheduled to start Wednesday night against the Phillies, so he intended to come in during the late morning to do his usual throwing program. “Don’t do anything. Get your mind right,” Quintana urged his teammates. “Stay away from baseball for one day -- except for me for two hours.” |
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The Brewers reinstated shortstop Joey Ortiz from the 10-day injured list and recalled reliever Craig Yoho from Triple-A Nashville on Monday as rosters expanded from 26 to 28. But two notable players remained in Triple-A. Left-hander Robert Gasser, who has completed his comeback from Tommy John surgery, was reinstated from the IL and optioned to Triple-A on Saturday, meaning he’ll have to serve 15 days in the Minors before he can be called up, unless he’s replacing an injured player. The Brewers intend to take Gasser off his starters’ schedule and use him in multi-inning relief outings in the coming weeks, in anticipation of a late-season and postseason bullpen role. Also left in Triple-A was Rhys Hoskins, who went into Monday with a .954 OPS in the first 10 games of his rehab assignment with Nashville. He can remain on rehab until Sept. 9. “There isn’t a target date,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We just feel like with our roster the way it is right now, he’s a first baseman and a DH. We have both of those positions right now, and we have the opposite-handed, the left-handed hitter for pinch-hit situations. So to thread the needle, we still feel like we need a little more time.” |
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