'Take what they give you' works like magic for Crew

MILWAUKEE -- Coming out of the All-Star break, most of the questions regarding the Brewers' second-half outlook focused on the offense. Three games into the half, it looks like the bats are finally ready to shake out of their doldrums.

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The Brewers’ 10-9 victory over the Rockies on Sunday afternoon at American Family Field gave Milwaukee 25 runs through three games. That’s an impressive total for a team that ranked eighth among NL squads with 417 runs before the break, including an average of just 3.5 per game during their final 11 games of the first half.

"We've had some good days," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Guys are doing a nice job, we're doing a nice job with guys in scoring position. We've just swung the bats well."

More impressive than the total is how and when those runs have come. Like they did Friday during a 13-inning marathon win, the Brewers found themselves having to respond to the Rockies on multiple occasions. It culminated in a three-run eighth-inning rally capped by Andrew McCutchen's two-run double, which, like Rowdy Tellez's game-tying RBI single earlier in the inning, came on a two-strike pitch.

"We understand our ballclub," McCutchen said. "Believe me, I've been a part of teams that get down early and the game is over already. This team isn't like that. We're down, whatever. We have a ballclub that can put up three, four or five runs in an inning. We're capable of doing that. We just have to stay within ourselves and understand that if you're leading off an inning, you can't hit a five-run homer. Just chip away, get the next guy up. We've been able to do that. We were able to do that today."

McCutchen said the ability to do that stems from a conversation the team had prior to Friday’s series opener. Among the topics discussed were what went wrong for the bats during the first half, and what needed an adjustment in the second for the team to get where it wants to at the end of the season.

The answer was simple.

"Just take what they give you," McCutchen said. "If they don't give it to you, don't try to go get it. Stay within yourself, and if they give you something to do some damage with, do some damage with it; if they're shifting over, take advantage of the hole if you can. We've been doing that. It's just a different approach these last three games, and it's been good to see."

McCutchen pointed to the eighth inning as a perfect illustration of the new philosophy.

The Brewers trailed 8-6 after Elias Diaz's two-run single put the Rockies ahead in the top half. Colorado reliever Alex Colome picked up two quick outs on ground balls by Victor Caratini and Tyrone Taylor, and he was a strike away from getting out of the inning when Christian Yelich looked at a cutter for a 1-2 count. Yelich then took three straight cutters out of the zone to draw a two-out walk, and he advanced to second on Willy Adames’ single.

Colome again got within a pitch of escaping, only for Tellez to work the count full before slapping an RBI single to right. Then McCutchen fouled off a pair of fastballs before delivering the game's big hit.

"When we get into those ruts, a lot of times it's because we're trying to create something that's not there, and we're trying to do a little too much," McCutchen said. "Once you take the 'next guy up' mentality, when you continue to trust the guy behind you, that's when good things happen, and we showed that throughout the game.

“Yeli showed that in the eighth inning. He didn't get much to hit, but he worked the count and got on base. Willy came up behind him and got a hit. Then Rowdy. It just continued to keep going.

"Just take what they give you. I guess that's the new slogan."