Brewers' reliable bullpen makes offense's big inning count

PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers’ largely young offense has been grinding in its quest to consistently post runs. In their past eight games, the Brewers have scored 26 runs; 12 came in a thrashing of the Cardinals, but 14 were scored across the other seven for an average of two runs per game.

On Wednesday, facing a bullpen game from the Pirates, they showed more patience than they have so far during this series. It paid off in a huge inning that had eluded the team in the first two games en route to a 3-2 victory over the Bucs at PNC Park.

But the biggest key to that result holding up? A bullpen that has been the rock of this team, holding games where they’re at more often than not.

The Brewers gave their bullpen a lead for the first time this series through grit. Pirates opener Josh Fleming faced the minimum through two innings. To start the third, Sal Frelick reached base on a throwing error. Two batters later, Brice Turang drew a walk from the nine hole, and Pittsburgh went to the bullpen for Luis Ortiz.

Ortiz lacked command. William Contreras, who finished with three hits and a walk from the leadoff spot, drove in an RBI single, then Willy Adames was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout, Rhys Hoskins was struck by a pitch to bring in a run, and then Blake Perkins -- who had not drawn more than one walk in a game this season -- took one of his three walks in the game to round out the three-run inning.

“Blake’s not been swinging the bat in the last three or four days the way he had earlier in the season,” manager Pat Murphy said, “and to contribute somehow shows that he understands winning.”

It was the only inning in which Milwaukee would score. But for its uber-competitive bullpen, that was no concern.

Bryan Hudson continued a dominant season with 1 2/3 scoreless innings that moved his ERA to 0.68. Elvis Peguero worked around some command hiccups to pitch a hitless frame. Trevor Megill threw a three-up, three-down eighth inning.

Without injured closer Devin Williams, the Brewers have had to look at save opportunities matchup by matchup. Increasingly, Joel Payamps has been tabbed for this role.

Payamps got a strikeout looking to begin his ninth inning, but things got a little wild. A chopper up the middle by Edward Olivares ticked off Payamps’ glove, and his fire to first was late. Then, Joey Wiemer dropped a ball in left field that Murphy called “unacceptable.” After the quick three-pitch K that opened the frame, the situation had spiraled just as quickly over the next three pitches.

That’s where the experience from pitching in these high-stress situations served Payamps well.

“You’d never know there was chaos going on,” Murphy said.

Calm as ever, he induced a flyout from Jared Triolo, and he struck out pinch-hitter Andrew McCutchen for his third save in his past four appearances.

“There’s been a lot of hard work put into that,” Payamps said of his closing work through an interpreter, “and the manager has confidence in me to go out there and throw that inning.”

It’s not just a few arms who are carrying the load for the bullpen. The Brewers own the best reliever ERA in the National League at 2.85. They’ve come up big time and time again, and it’s one of the biggest reasons the team is off to a 15-8 start to stand alone in first place of a long race to another NL Central division title.

But ask Bryse Wilson -- who started Wednesday but has been used as a reliever for the majority of his time in Milwaukee -- and he’ll tell you they’re not satisfied with their results. Not yet.

“If you ask anybody in our bullpen, we’re not necessarily off to the start that we wanted to get off to, but I think it’s partly because we hold ourselves to a really high standard,” Wilson said. “We take a lot of pride in being able to go out and just keep the team in the game.”