Best bullpen in baseball? Wilson delivers in extras 

SEATTLE -- It came down to Julio Rodríguez versus Bryse Wilson, the Mariners' superstar versus the Brewers' long man who had not only never pitched in extra innings with a runner on second base, but had never pitched in extra innings, period.

Wilson had no options but to fill the strike zone. It was the 11th inning, the bases were loaded and the Brewers were clinging to a one-run lead an inning after they’d seen another one-run lead slip away. Wilson won the battle, and the Brewers won the game 6-5 over the Mariners on a frigid Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.

The best bullpen in baseball through nearly three weeks of the regular season had done it again.

“I had one thought on my mind,” Wilson said. “I had really jammed him on a sinker his last at-bat, so I was eventually going to go back to that. And that’s what I did.”

Rodríguez hit a bouncer to shortstop Willy Adames, whose run-scoring groundout in the top of the 11th for his third RBI of the night had given the Brewers the lead. Adames fed to second base for the final out, and the Brewers had a sixth win in the first nine games of this long western road trip, with a chance to sweep the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.

Milwaukee is 13-5 overall largely on the strength of a surprisingly stout bullpen, which added six more innings without an earned run and leads the Majors with a 1.91 ERA. That’s a surprise, there’s no way around it.

“They’ve been great, and if there’s a better word for that tonight, they were,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

The Brewers have turned over much of their relief corps over the last year or so, going from the sure trio of Brad Boxberger in the seventh, Devin Williams in the eighth and Josh Hader in the ninth to Williams in the ninth … and a whole field of candidates vying for prominent spots around him.

Many of them figured in Tuesday’s win. The lone left-hander, Hoby Milner, delivered four outs. Joel Payamps -- perhaps overshadowed because he came to the Brewers in the shadow of catcher William Contreras in an offseason trade -- has already filled in for Williams on occasion when needed, and delivered two outs Tuesday. Matt Bush not only kept the ball in the yard in the eighth inning, but he struck out all three batters he faced. And Williams got all three of his outs via strikeout in a typically electric ninth.

“We have guys with great stuff and everyone is capable of being great,” Bush said.

That meant extra innings and an opportunity for Wilson, the former Braves and Pirates starter who surrendered an unearned run in an eventful 10th inning before keeping the Mariners off the board in the 11th to seal the win.

“Look, those extra innings when that man starts on second, that’s such a tough inning for pitchers,” Counsell said. “It’s always a do-or-die situation. There’s traffic immediately. It’s from pitch one, the game is on the line, and Bryse did a heck of a job.”

“I’m enjoying it,” Wilson said. “I’m able to go out and the mentality is just to really aggressively execute every single pitch that I can. There’s no setting up hitters for their next at-bats throughout the order. I just want to go out and attack every single hitter, which is probably a mentality I probably could have taken into starting.”

As a group, Brewers relievers are doing it a bit differently. Even with Bush and Williams piling up strikeouts Tuesday, Milwaukee relievers rank 27th of 30 teams with a 20% strikeout rate.

“Everybody is just worried about executing their job, whatever that might be,” said Christian Yelich, who opened the night with his fifth career leadoff homer and finished with three hits. “We’re trying to build some momentum.”

They appear to have it. The Brewers have won twice in extra innings on this road trip. On Tuesday, they managed to go 2-for-2 in scoring the free runner -- doing so in the 10th thanks to the athleticism of rookie center fielder Garrett Mitchell, who had to dive back to third base after sliding by the bag, then left the game in the bottom of that inning after uncorking a throw home. He has a left shoulder injury and will be examined when the Brewers get back to Milwaukee.

“There’s a few plays, a few situations in every game that decide the outcome,” Yelich said. “Whoever can execute the best [wins]. You’re not always going to succeed, but you want to give yourself the best chance.

“Guys are doing a really good job of just not trying to be anything more than themselves. We’ve got 26 guys clearly pulling in the same direction.”