Adames', Contreras' moms made them Brewers staples

MILWAUKEE -- Olga Contreras worked as a school janitor when her three sons -- Willmer, Willson and William -- were growing up in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. Her influence helps explain William Contreras’ commitment to hard work.

Willy Adames’ mother, Ana Sobeida Luna, helped him navigate the COVID-19 shutdown from afar in the Dominican Republic. Using FaceTime as their go-between, she taught her then-24-year-old son how to cook for himself. There’s a lesson there about self-reliance.

So, perhaps it’s no surprise that 40 games into the Brewers’ season, a round number reached with Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Cardinals on Mother’s Day at American Family Field, Contreras and Adames are the constants for a team that has already employed 10 different starting pitchers and five starting first basemen. The Brewers have seen so many pitchers log saves -- six and counting -- that when manager Pat Murphy quipped a couple of weeks ago that, “We're giving those out around here,” he might not have been joking.

All that tumult hasn’t impacted the bottom line -- the Brewers are atop the National League Central at 24-16 -- but it’s been a handful.

Which makes it all the more helpful that when Murphy writes out his lineup, two names are there every time: Contreras and Adames. They became the first Brewers duo to start each of the team’s first 40 games since another pair of constants, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, went the first 56 games in 2011 before one of them got a break.

For both Contreras -- Milwaukee’s regular catcher who got a reprieve from crouching Sunday in his seventh start as the designated hitter -- and Adames -- who has started every game at shortstop (and played there all but three innings this season) -- it’s not just a matter of availability, but production. Adames’ .799 OPS places him within MLB’s top 50 so far this season, and Contreras, who added two more hits including a single that sparked Milwaukee’s three-run first inning on Sunday, has reached safely in 37 of the team’s 40 games, including the past 20 in a row. His .949 OPS is eighth in the Majors.

“William’s been unconscious,” Murphy said. “They’re trying to pitch around him and he’s still hitting.”

Unfortunately for the Brewers, there weren’t enough hits after Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas bounced back from a three-run opening inning. He wound up getting through the sixth without another run, and three relievers finished the job, including closer Ryan Helsley with a fastball reaching 102.8 mph in the ninth.

Contreras, Christian Yelich and Adames all scored in the first before the rally was cut abruptly short. Credit Cardinals left fielder Alec Burleson for that; he threw out Rhys Hoskins at home plate as Hoskins tried to score a second run on Gary Sánchez’s two-out RBI single.

There were pros and cons to third base coach Jason Lane’s send. On one hand, there were two outs and teams typically send the runner in that situation to force the opponent to make a perfect throw. On the other hand, Mikolas was so compromised at that point considering his alarming pitch count, there was a case to be made to hold him and force Mikolas to get another out.

“We let him off the hook,” Murphy said. “You know, it was a one-run game, but [the Cardinals] left 13 on base. We walked too many guys. We didn’t execute. Offensively and pitching, it just wasn’t a great ballgame for us. It’s hard to beat a Major League team four times.”

Slumping Cardinals star Paul Goldschmidt homered and drove in a pair to help St. Louis snap a seven-game losing streak overall and an eight-game losing streak in matchups with Milwaukee, and, indeed, Brewers starter Bryse Wilson shared his manager’s lament about the walks. Wilson walked five in four-plus innings and knew what he’d hear from his mom, Tracy, when they dissected his performance after the game.

“We went and took pictures [after the game] and she’s not going to say it then, but as soon as we get home, she’s going to be like, ‘What are we doing? Why did you walk five people?’” Wilson said. “But it always ends in, ‘I love you. You did a great job. Way to perform and compete.’ I’m looking forward to the conversation when I get home.”

He can always count on mom to keep it real.

“Obviously, I wish I could have done better,” Wilson said. “But I think my mom is still going to love me either way.”