Adames invigorates Crew with HR, glove

MILWAUKEE -- Fifty games into the 2021 regular season, the Brewers have some of the National League’s best starting pitching. They have electric relief for the final two innings. They have one of their most decorated collections of defensive players ever. And they are a .500 team because they’ve had not much in the way of offense.

But Willy Adames, the new shortstop brought in to try to help change that, did his part Thursday to offer hope that the next 50 games will be better.

Adames got to flip his bat for the first time in a Brewers uniform after crushing a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning and putting his fingerprints all over one of the team’s most well-rounded victories. He finished with four hits and four RBIs and was a triple shy of the cycle. He made a trio of highlight-reel defensive plays. And in the best of them, Adames threw out the would-be go-ahead run at home plate in the eighth inning of the Brewers’ 6-5 win over the Padres in 10 innings at American Family Field.

“I think it’s the type of energy we need on the team,” said Adrian Houser, who did his part by pitching five scoreless innings. “He’s been huge for us so far.”

The Brewers are 25-25 after Jackie Bradley Jr. drove a walk-off single off the right-field wall with two outs in the 10th, reaching the 50-game milepost with a split of their four-game series against a San Diego team which rode an eight-game winning streak into town.

At the plate, Adames doubled in the first inning, hit an RBI single for the Brewers’ first run as part of a two-run fifth inning and then, after the Padres took the lead, hammered a Craig Stammen breaking ball over the Brewers’ bullpen for a 5-3 lead in the seventh. He also singled in the bottom of the ninth to give the team a chance to avoid extras.

The home run stood out. It was Adames’ first as a Brewer.

“It was the best feeling,” he said. “Especially in that situation. I was just trying to take a good at-bat and bring the guy in, and as soon as I hit the ball, it was a big feeling. It was something special for me, especially to get that win after those good at-bats that we all took. To do it in front of all the fans, this is a great fan base and I'm excited to play here, hopefully for a lot of years.”

And in the eighth, Adames helped Devin Williams escape a 32-pitch battle against the heart of the Padres’ order and narrowly escape without yielding the lead. With one run already in and men at the corners after an Eric Hosmer single at the end of an at-bat that featured eight pitches, seven pickoff attempts of Fernando Tatis Jr. at first base and three foul balls, longtime Brewers nemesis Manny Machado lined a pinch-hit double to the wall in right-center field. Bradley chased it down and fired the ball toward the infield, where Adames relayed it home just in time to cut down the lumbering Hosmer and preserve a 5-5 tie.

“Credit to those guys, they ran a clean cut and relay, and Adames came up and threw an absolute strike,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “If it's anywhere left or right, I think Hoz gets in there.”

“That's my favorite play to make,” Adames said. “I'm always ready to throw the ball to home plate. I saw the throw [was] a little high, and at that moment, I knew that I was gonna get it.”

Fifty games in, the Brewers are fueled by pitching and defense, as they expected. Including Houser’s five scoreless innings on Thursday, Brewers starters are second in the NL in WHIP (1.00) and opponents’ average (.192), third in strikeout rate (28.5 percent) and fifth in ERA (3.16). But those pitchers have a 15-19 record because of a lack of run support.

Friday’s trade for Adames was the latest attempt by management to do something to spur Milwaukee’s position-player group. The Brewers are last in the NL in batting average (.209), last by a wide margin in average with runners in scoring position (.192), last in on-base percentage (.296) and third-last in slugging percentage (.354) while playing home games in a power-friendly ballpark. By outs above average, the Brewers are in the bottom five of NL teams at first base, third base, shortstop, left field and center field, and in the top five at only one position: catcher.

Adames will do his thing to boost the output at shortstop.

“He’s been amazing,” Bradley said. “He’s been here every single day, making sure everybody is elevated and keeping everybody in good spirits. He brings an awful lot of energy. The competitiveness he brings day in and day out is contagious.”