Vogelbach hits 2 HRs: 'He needs to play'

MILWAUKEE -- “It's the bat,” manager Craig Counsell said back in Spring Training when the Brewers decided to carry Daniel Vogelbach on their Opening Day roster, even if they didn’t exactly have a position for him other than hitter.

The bat played at American Family Field on Sunday, when Vogelbach hit a pair of home runs, including a tying, two-run shot in the seventh that pushed the Pirates and Brewers toward extra innings. But Vogelbach didn’t have a third hit in him when he batted with the Brewers down a run in the 10th, and they fell, 6-5, missing a chance to win a fourth straight series.

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After the Brewers took two of three games against the Cubs, Cardinals and the Cubs again, it was the Pirates who snapped the streak. Pittsburgh hadn’t won a series in Milwaukee since September 2018.

“Obviously, winning is the most important,” Vogelbach said. “It was a hard-fought game and you always want to come out on top in those. But I was pleased with being able to put a couple of good swings on some fastballs and just trying to get my timing to where it needs to go.”

Milwaukee’s offense, which was last in the Majors in runs scored and OPS through the first week of the season, has come around over the past week-plus, thanks to increasing contributions from the likes of Vogelbach. He appeared sporadically in the Brewers’ first 14 games, logging two singles and three walks in 22 plate appearances while pinch-hitting and occasionally spelling slumping first baseman Keston Hiura. Vogelbach started four of those games at first base but only played one complete game before Sunday, when Counsell wanted his left-handed bat in the lineup against Pirates pitcher Chad Kuhl, a right-hander who entered the day 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA in eight games, including seven starts, against Milwaukee. The Brewers were 0-7 in Kuhl’s starts. The Brewers still have never won a Kuhl start.

Vogelbach struck early, driving a solo home run off Kuhl two batters into the bottom of the first inning, when the Brewers took a 2-0 lead. The clubs spent the rest of the day trading homers. Colin Moran smacked a three-run shot in the third inning after Freddy Peralta extended the frame with a two-out walk, but Avisaíl García answered in the bottom of the inning for a 3-3 tie.

Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run homer a Statcast-projected 436 feet off Brad Boxberger in the top of the seventh and Vogelbach answered with a line drive over the fence in the bottom of the inning after Jackie Bradley Jr. reached on a bunt single. It gave Vogelbach his fifth career multihomer game and his second since the Brewers claimed him off waivers from Toronto last September.

“I think he needs to play,” Counsell said. “He provides offense for us. I think he's swung the bat pretty well so far. He hasn't put the ball in the air so far, but he's made a lot of really hard outs. Really, the second baseman has gobbled up a bunch of his balls that he's hit really hard.”

In the 10th, however, Vogelbach and the Brewers couldn’t sneak one through.

Both teams sent a potent set of hitters to the plate. Counsell elected not to pitch Josh Hader multiple innings this early in the year, so the 10th belonged to J.P. Feyereisen, who yielded a go-ahead double to the first batter he faced, Pirates cleanup man Moran. The Brewers countered with Vogelbach, García and Travis Shaw, and the Pirates did use their closer for a second inning. Richard Rodríguez retired all three -- Vogelbach and García on fly outs, Shaw on a called strike 3 -- and for his 14th consecutive scoreless outing dating to last year.

“It’s one of those games where you get into the late innings and you tie it, you feel like you've got a pretty good chance at home, but they played well in the end,” Counsell said.

Vogelbach will continue to get opportunities in those spots, Counsell said.

“There’s so much in this game that’s out of your control and there’s so little that’s in your control,” Vogelbach said. “So for me, if I start worrying about things that I can’t control, I’m just going to spin myself out of things that I can control. So, just try to come in every day, be the same guy, be a leader, have a smile on my face, get my work in and when my number’s called, do what I can to help the team win -- whether it’s starting, pinch-hitting, whatever it may be. My goal is just to do what I can each and every day.”