MILWAUKEE – The box score says the save went to Trevor Megill after his three-up, three-down, six-pitch ninth inning sealed the Brewers’ 4-3 win over the Astros on Tuesday at American Family Field. But this night was a reminder that the task of saving a victory doesn’t only fall to the last relief pitcher who touches the baseball.
It was righty reliever Nick Mears who recorded the biggest out in the tightest spot for the second straight night. And it was William Contreras who showed that a catcher can play just as significant a role in run prevention – even when he’s hurting.
“The games we win, we pitch,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We’re not going to outslug anybody right now.”
On Tuesday the Brewers slugged just enough, getting a two-run double from Rhys Hoskins and a two-run home run from Jake Bauers in successive at-bats in the first inning. Then they hung on to win. Rookie Chad Patrick pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his seven career starts and Abner Uribe, Mears and Megill managed to complete a third consecutive victory that pushed the Brewers back over .500 at 19-18.
Most of the night’s dramatic pitches came in the eighth, with the Astros back within one run on Brendan Rodgers’ three-run homer off Patrick in the seventh inning and threatening again against Uribe in the eighth. It was the second time in as many nights that Mears was called upon to put out a late-inning fire; in Monday’s victory with the Brewers nursing a two-run lead and the bases loaded in the seventh, Mears struck out Zach Dezenzo and got a groundout from Jake Meyers to send them toward victory.
This time, with the tying runner in scoring position and another runner aboard with two outs, Mears induced a Yainer Diaz groundout to end the threat.
It continues a climb up Murphy’s trust tree for Mears, who was acquired from the Rockies at last year’s Trade Deadline. After missing the start of the regular season because of an illness in Spring Training that sapped his strength, Mears’ ERA is down to 0.68 through his 13 1/3 innings this season, with opponents slugging a meager .116.
“You can’t put a price on that,” Bauers said. “It feels like anytime a tough situation is coming up, you look out in the bullpen and it’s Nick Mears running up.”
“He’s been killing it,” Megill said. “We kind of mentioned it in our meeting coming into this series, that inherited runners [scoring] is a thing that needs to change. He’s been the only constant in the bullpen [preventing] that. I can be a lot better. But he’s been the person that ‘Murph’ is relying on for that.”
There’s no name for that role – Megill suggested “swingman,” but that’s more commonly used for a pitcher who bounces between the bullpen and the starting rotation. Whatever you call it, it’s a critical job. Before they were All-Star closers, Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader and Devin Williams all specialized in escaping jams prior to the ninth inning.
“As a reliever, that’s what you live for,” Mears said. “That’s why you work as hard as you do, so you can be put in those positions with everything on the line. Just having the trust from the coaching staff, that’s everything.”
Speaking of trust, Murphy called out Contreras’ role in Tuesday’s win. Mears only pitched with the lead in the eighth inning because moments earlier, Contreras had thrown out Astros veteran Altuve trying to advance to second base when one of Uribe’s pitches got away from the catcher. It proved a big out when Christian Walker singled two batters later.
In the offseason, Murphy challenged Brewers bullpen coach and catcher whisperer Charlie Greene to better shut down opponents’ running game, and Greene and the catchers have risen to that challenge, Murphy said. That, despite Contreras dealing with an injured finger on his glove hand that is so painful, the Brewers ordered an X-ray late Tuesday night.
“Give William credit,” Murphy said. “He’s playing with an injury and you can tell it affected him tonight. But in a big situation, he comes up and throws that guy out at second base. That was just a hustle play and a big-time play. You have to give William credit in all of this, the way he’s calling the game, the way he’s receiving, the way he’s throwing.
“He’s a huge part of it right now, because that’s how we’ve got to win.”