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    • Brewers defense, fifth inning bullpen collapse against Mets in Game 1
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    Brewers defense, fifth inning bullpen collapse against Mets in Game 1

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    Before the bottom of the sixth inning, the Polish racing sausage turned around the warning track behind home plate and zoomed past the home dugout, seemingly on his way to victory Tuesday night, until he tripped, tripped and face-palmed in front of 40,002 fans was transplanted to American Family Field.

    It was a big, frothy metaphor for what had happened about a half-hour earlier in a disastrous fifth inning for the Milwaukee Brewers.

    The Brewers seemingly – finally – found themselves in an envious position in a playoff game. They had just taken a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series. Jackson Chourio had just delivered a clutch hit and then hit a home run in the first inning of the fifth. The Brewers would win their first playoff game in six tries if they could hold the fort with a bullpen as lauded as any in baseball.

    Instead, the bullpen was just as intimidated as anyone.

    A five-run fifth turned the tide, giving the New York Mets an 8-4 victory that puts Milwaukee just one game away from another quick postseason exit and a decision by manager Pat Murphy to the forefront of the discussion.

    The decisive, disastrous inning began with Murphy removing starter Freddy Peralta from the game and switching to reliever Joel Payamps. Peralta had allowed three runs in the second inning, but calmed down a bit after that, giving up nine straight runs to end his outing.

    Peralta’s fifth-inning numbers this year were poor. He had a 7.67 earned run average and a .909 OPS, which was often attributed to him struggling when the lineup moved to the top for the third time.

    However, this time wasn’t the third time. The bottom third of the Mets line was on, and Peralta had retired in each of the second innings.

    Murphy gave a lengthy statement after the game.

    “He’s probably 18 pitches away from his limit,” Murphy said. “We take the lead in the game. We have a full bullpen. It’s a playoff game. You don’t – “Well, we’d like to get him up to five because we’re using the bullpen during the week.” You don’t. You’re playing to win tonight.

    “Payamps posted a 1.03 ERA in 30 games and did not give up a single run in 12 games. If Payamps gets to the top of the order again or if Peralta gets to the top of the order again, then the way we use the bullpen changes.”

    “… We had just taken the lead,” he added. “It was an emotional 70 pitches. What does he have left, 20 left? He usually has 83 and 90 pitches when he loses a bit on his fastball. I didn’t want to face these guys three times.”

    The change didn’t seem to go down well with Peralta.

    “It’s not the first time,” Peralta said. “This has happened in the past too. I don’t understand why I was taken out of the game, but there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s not possible at the moment either.”

    Peralta replied, “I’d rather not answer that question” when asked about his feelings about the removal.

    Poor play in the fifth period doomed the Brewers

    There will undoubtedly be debate over the decision given what happened afterward, especially if the Brewers can’t find a way to win a series, something they haven’t done since 2018, although it was their fifth playoff appearance since then. To be fair, Murphy’s logic is sound. The Brewers’ strength lies in their bullpen. There was a path to the end with their four best substitutes.

    But Peralta’s frustration as a competitor, as a veteran who is called the ace by his team, is also understandable.

    Maybe Peralta should have stayed in the game. Maybe he shouldn’t have done it.

    Either way, one thing is clear: American Family Field didn’t turn into a lifeless museum over the final five innings because the coaching staff decided to use a reliever. The Brewers lost this playoff game for the same reasons they had lost their previous five playoff games: they didn’t pitch well enough, they didn’t hit well enough, and they certainly didn’t play well enough on defense .

    The fifth inning took a turn in the wrong direction when left fielder Jackson Chourio, who had a batter out after robbing Starling Marte of a home run, misplayed a line drive after being hit to left by Tyrone Taylor. Chourio initially set off laterally, failing to judge the depth of the ball in the sun, and failed to execute a diving trap.

    “That one in the windows was kind of up there,” Chourio said, referring to the glass windows directly above the upper deck, “and I couldn’t see it that well from the jump.”

    Payamps got the next batter to fly to Chourio, but it was clear the Mets were getting comfortable swings against him. The right-hander walked to Francisco Lindor to bring Jose Iglesias to the plate and set up play.

    Iglesias hit a first-pitch sinker toward first base, where Rhys Hoskins made a backhand pick and went down. However, Payamps froze for a moment and ran too late to take cover first. Not only did Iglesias win the race to base, but Taylor also sprinted home from second as Payamps initially failed to turn around after reaching first base.

    “It’s more or less a routine game that we can practice,” Payamps said. “I stuck with it. At first I thought the ball would be a little closer to the bag. That wasn’t it. I stayed back and it surprised me a little. It’s a routine play that we practiced and we couldn’t execute.”

    “You have to cover first. “You can’t give them five outs in an inning, but it happens,” Murphy said of the play that sank the game — and maybe more — for the Brewers.

    Aaron Ashby escapes in the inning

    Murphy then went to the bullpen again and asked left-hander Aaron Ashby to face a left-handed batter, Brandon Nimmo.

    Ashby would not retire Nimmo or the next batsman. Not the next one either. Not even the one after that. Not even the one after that.

    All five Mets who came to bat against Ashby reached base, making the Brewers the first pitcher since Arizona’s Brad Ziegler in Game 2 of the 2011 NLDS to face at least five batters and not record an out.

    “What I think happened is the game sped up a little bit,” Murphy said. “He still had his good bike, but he didn’t have his good sink. He didn’t have his good movement on him. Then it seemed a little hesitant about what he broke.

    “But you saw 97 and 99 (mph). He and Payamps, along with (Trevor) Megill and (Devin) Williams, are four of the best relievers in the game when you look at the numbers. So I was pretty confident that Payamps one (innings), Ashby two (innings), Megill and Williams were good. That’s not how it worked.”

    That was certainly not the case.

    As far as the Brewers’ recent history goes, that’s certainly not the case either.

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    Madoc Meredith
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