Owner endorses management as Milwaukee Brewers find new, exciting way to lose
By Phil Watson
Owner Mark Attanasio is not thrilled with what he sees from his Milwaukee Brewers in the early going.
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And, hey, who is?
But Attanasio said the accountability lies with the players and that manager Ron Roenicke nor general manager Doug Melvin were in imminent danger of being fired.
“I’m not looking at the manager or general manager right now,” Attanasio told MLB.com.
But that didn’t stop the Brewers from finding a new, exciting way to lose Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Francisco Rodriguez allowed the go-ahead run to score in the top of the ninth inning and the Cincinnati Reds handed the Crew their eighth straight loss, 2-1, wasting another terrific effort from young right-hander Jimmy Nelson.
Nelson got a no-decision after allowing just a run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in eight innings, lowering his ERA to 1.35.
Nelson, who retired the last 10 hitters he faced, allowed only a first-inning run to the Reds (8-7). Billy Hamilton led off the game with a single, stole second and scored on Joey Votto’s single.
From there, it was nothing but zeroes for Nelson, who was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth.
Logan Schafer delivered a double batting for Nelson and moved up to third on Jean Segura’s sacrifice bunt. But Elian Herrera looked at a called third strike, Johnny Cueto—who also threw a gem—walked Ryan Braun and then fanned Adam Lind to end the threat.
In the top of the ninth, Rodriguez (0-2) issued a one-out walk to Hamilton that began the descent into more despair.
Votto singled to center to advance Hamilton to third, but Rodriguez got Todd Frazier to pop up for the second out. But with Brandon Phillips at the plate, Rodriguez fired a changeup that bounced in front of the plate and Hamilton scampered home to give Cincinnati a 2-1 lead.
Closer Aroldis Chapman set the Crew (2-13) down in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn his fourth save.
“You have to stay positive,” catcher Martin Maldonado told MLB.com. “I think Jimmy threw the ball nasty today. You’re going one-on-one with Johnny Cueto, you’re pitching you’re a** off out there. He kept us in the ballgame, throwing strikes, getting people out, striking people out. That’s all you can ask for.”
Nelson’s outing snapped a string of nine consecutive games without a quality start by the rotation.
“You are trying to get better every day,” Nelson said. “That’s all I’m trying to do, get better every day and give us a chance to win.”
The game provided more proof that the only predictable aspect of baseball is that it is unpredictable. A day after the two teams combined for 26 runs, including seven home runs and three grand slams, the Brewers and Reds scored three runs on nine hits.
Cueto (1-2) allowed a run on five hits while striking out eight and walking two.
Milwaukee’s lone run came in the bottom of the first. Herrera drew a one-out walk and moved up when Cueto was called for a balk. After Braun struck out, Lind singled up the middle to plate Herrera.
As for the owner, he said it’s ultimately up to the players to turn things around.
“I know how bad we’ve played,” Attanasio said. “But we’re 14 games into the season and Ron didn’t give up two grand slams [Tuesday] night. I think we have to kind of parse through it.
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“Everybody needs to be accountable, but we have to look at what people are responsible for and then hold them accountable for what they’re responsible for. So Ron had Mike Fiers pitching and Mike was still at a point in the game with 70 pitches that he should have been pitching. He needs to execute his pitches better.
“Martin Maldonado took some accountability [Tuesday] night. I liked seeing that. He didn’t throw the ball, but he received the ball and he’s a guy who hit a home run [Tuesday] night and he’s taking accountability. That’s a good thing to see.”
There have been precious few of those through the first 2½ weeks of the 2015 season.
The Brewers play a matinee on Thursday and will try to avoid the four-game sweep with Kyle Lohse (0-3, 10.34) taking on right-hander Homer Bailey (0-1, 7.94).
Cincinnati has swept just one four-game set at Milwaukee, beating the Brewers four straight times on May 13-16, 2002.