The Milwaukee Brewers fought tooth and nail to run away with a clean sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series, but they simply didn't have enough gas left in the tank to pull it off. Despite hanging on for 12 innings of action, manager Pat Murphy lost the chess match to Kevin Cash. 4-3 in extra innings despite the late-game heroics of rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt.
Milwaukee is still expected to take the series, as no team has ever come back from 3-0 in the Fall Classic, but it won't be as easy as Game Three's resounding victory, as the momentum has shifted back in favor of Tampa Bay. So, it's pertinent that Murphy and his coaching staff take the right lessons from this one, because no one wants to wind up on the wrong side of history.
Lesson 1: There's no need for the Brewers to overthink their pitching rotation this late in the World Series.
Eight different pitchers took the mound for Murphy's Brewers in this one, but the order was a bit different than we're used to. But by overplaying his hand, Murphy used valuable innings from players he might need down the stretch of the series, and ultimately shelved Trevor Megill after only five pitches so that Aaron Ashby could close the game.
In the end, this left them with Shane Drohan, who might as well be banished from the rest of the series for giving up four hits and the game-winning runs on only 15 pitches in the 12th inning.
Milwaukee needs to make sure its big three, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and Trevor Megill, are deployed correctly. They combined for six strikeouts, one hit, and zero earned runs in 4.2 combined innings, so the recipe still works. Murphy just needs to stick with the game plan, but it just so happened that Tampa Bay forced them into extra innings and backed them against a wall.
Lesson 2: David Hamilton is more trustworthy than Joey Ortiz at this stage of the Brewers' season.
There was only one home run in this game, and it was punctuated by David Hamilton, who also ranks as one of the best defensive players on the team. So Murphy's decision to bench him for Joey Ortiz late in the game was a bit confusing at first, but he gets the benefit of the doubt as the reigning two-time NL Manager of the Year. However, it came back to bite him, as Ortiz struggled in the twelfth inning, botching what could've been a routine out, and offered nothing at the plate.
Hamilton did strike out twice, but we know what to expect from him. Ortiz is a bit more of a wild card, and the Brewers cannot afford to play with fire this close to the franchise's first World Series title.
Lesson 3: Milwaukee can't expect Jackson Chourio and William Contreras to be perfect every night.
The Milwaukee Brewers need to remember how to win without having their star players, Jackson Chourio and William Contreras, carry them to the promised land. Through the first three games of the World Series, it's hard to say they were anything less than incredible, but that finally fell through in Game Four in Tampa Bay. Contreras finished 0-4 with a walk, and Chourio finished 2-6 with two strikeouts.
They still manage to make an impact on the game, even when the stars aren't aligning perfectly. Contreras bobbled a ball or two and missed some opportunities to catch a Rays player stealing a base after executing multiple times over earlier in the series. And Chourio, at times, seemed frustrated during his at-bats.
But the Brewers can't solely rely on these two in order to win games, so in the next 24 hours, Murphy needs to make sure that expectation is set for the rest of his lineup, too.
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