Pitcher Rowdy to his catcher: 'Watch Maddux work'

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MIAMI -- Rowdy Tellez is a first baseman who hadn’t pitched in a game since his junior year of high school. Since we don’t have the box scores to verify, we’ll just have to trust he was telling the truth when he said that it didn’t go well.

So, it came as a considerable surprise to everyone at loanDepot park on Friday, including those in uniform in the Brewers’ dugout, when it was Tellez joining the likes of Rollie Fingers, CC Sabathia, John Axford and Josh Hader as Brewers pitchers who have recorded the final out of a victory that clinched a place in the postseason.

What did he tell catcher Victor Caratini as they prepared to pitch the ninth inning?

“I was like, ‘Well, Vic,’” Tellez said after a 16-1 win over the Marlins, “‘Sit on the corners and watch Maddux work.’”

For this Brewers team, perhaps the moment was fitting.

They have surged since the third week of August with contributions from all over the roster, from the “Big Three” starters -- Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta -- the reason why Milwaukee is many a prognosticator’s pick to challenge the National League-powerhouse Braves and Dodgers once the postseason begins -- to the in-season additions of Mark Canha, Carlos Santana and Josh Donaldson -- who helped transform the offense.

Then there are the players who spent much of the year on the bench, like outfielders Tyrone Taylor, Blake Perkins and Tellez, who was out with an injury when the Brewers picked up Santana to play first base.

Coming back from the IL as a part-time player can be a tough pill to swallow for someone who led his team in home runs the year before, but Tellez went to work. He has not had the season he envisioned, a .663 OPS and 13 home runs in a year shortened by a freak and gruesome injury suffered right after the All-Star break, when he was shagging fly balls in Cincinnati and caught his left ring finger on a section of the wall at Great American Ball Park.

But in a big moment as the regular season winds down, he moonlighted as a pitcher and made the franchise highlight reel forever.

“Cy Young candidate now, so…” Tellez said.

After the Brewers scored 12 runs in the second inning and it was clear there was going to be a chance to save a bullpen arm by having a position player pitch, manager Craig Counsell’s first choices were catcher Victor Caratini or infielder Brian Anderson. But they were both already in the game, so it was tricky. It was bench coach Pat Murphy who suggested Tellez.

“Can you throw strikes?” Counsell asked him.

“Yes, absolutely,” Tellez responded.

Tellez rushed to the clubhouse to find a suitable glove and borrowed one from veteran lefty Wade Miley. That was in the seventh inning. Then he had to wait.

“I was a little jacked,” Tellez said. “I was a little hyped up. So I sat on the bench and almost put my AirPods in to lock it in.”

As Tellez described the experience to a crowd of reporters at his locker, the pitchers around him rolled their eyes, groaned audibly and pointed out that in the signature moment -- a strikeout of Marlins right fielder Jesus Sánchez -- home-plate umpire Roberto Ortiz had lost track of the count.

Go check the video for yourself. Tellez struck out Sánchez on a 4-2 count.

Add it to the list of things that have gone right lately for the Brewers.

“We’ll have to put an asterisk next to it,” Corbin Burnes said. “It should have been a walk.”

Sorry, but the box score says otherwise.

“That was a good laugh for everybody to see ‘Big Randy’ out there on the mound tonight,” Christian Yelich said. “Big Randy is going to have a ‘punchie’ in The Show for the rest of his life. I’m sure we’re never going to hear the end of that.”