SAN DIEGO – The way Pat Murphy sees it, there’s something reassuring in the Brewers owning the best record in baseball with nearly 75% of the regular season in the books and so little offensive production in the past two months from their two most highly-paid hitters.
Imagine what they would look like if they could get Christian Yelich and William Contreras swinging the bats again.
“This hasn’t been easy for these guys,” Murphy said before managing Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Padres at Petco Park. “To think that in any way, shape and form that this isn’t bothering them as much as it’s bothering anyone else in the world, it’s crazy. Because it is, in fact, very tough on them.”
Murphy and the Brewers are pushing every button they can think of, which on Monday meant dropping Contreras to sixth in the lineup just ahead of Yelich, who made a similar move down the order during the last homestand. And just like that, Contreras, batting below the cleanup spot for the first time in three years, worked a second-inning walk from San Diego starter Casey Mize before Yelich powered an opposite-field, two-run homer.
It was a good place to start, but the Brewers needed more on a night their top three relievers – Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby – were all off limits after pitching the previous two days. They pushed a fatiguing Logan Henderson into the seventh inning for the first time in his career and saw him surrender a go-ahead two-run homer to Jackson Merrill on a changeup that was supposed to be low and away, but instead split the middle of home plate.
"We made it a point that Merrill wasn't going to beat us,” Murphy said. “But sometimes you can't control where the ball is going to go."
“That’s the only place I was trying not to throw it,” Henderson said. “I knew it was gone.”
Brewers hitters could have helped out with some insurance, but mustered only three hits and no runs after the second inning. Their last hope in the ninth inning against Padres closer Mason Miller was extinguished when Brandon Lockridge, pinch-running for Contreras after he’d worked a walk, was caught stealing to end the game.
“Keep going. Keep doing what I do. Keep working harder,” said Contreras, who finished the night 0-for-2 with two walks. “I’ve been doing the same thing all year. That’s baseball. That’s the game. You’re going to be in good moments, bad moments. Some days you’re going to be in a slump. A big slump.”
Contreras isn’t alone. Yelich, fighting a slump that dates all the way back to April, first fell down the lineup last week. When he hit seventh for Saturday’s win over the Twins, it was his lowest spot in a starting lineup since 2015 with the Marlins. Now he’s joined by Contreras, who hadn’t batted lower than fifth in parts of four seasons with the Brewers before hitting sixth Monday night.
Contreras made the National League All-Star team for the third time in his career this season and was hitting north of .300 as late as June 28. But over a 32-game span from June 29 through Sunday, he slashed .177/.243/.282.
Can being dropped in the lineup light a fire under a hitter?
"Yeah, I'm sure. You would have to ask him where his mindset is there,” Brewers hitting coach Guillermo Martinez said. “But he knows he's a good hitter. He knows he belongs in the top of the order, 100 percent I know he does. And I really do truly believe he is going to get there. … At the end of the day, we need him.”
As for Yelich, he went 4-for-19 in his first six games after sliding several spots down the order before coming through in his first at-bat Monday night with his first home run since a leadoff shot on July 24, and his first multi-run home run since July 4 at Arizona.
“We are where we are with them performing how they’ve performed. It certainly would make a huge difference if they start to perform and get the results that they’ve gotten in the past,” Murphy said. “I firmly believe that will happen, but if it doesn’t, we’ve got to get other people ready to produce. I trust in them. I just do.”
Asked what fuels that trust, Murphy said, “The history, and who they are, and how they work. I know what motivates them.
Is the move down the lineup meant to be a motivation tactic?
“It’s not meant to be motivating,” Murphy said. “It’s meant to be what’s best for our team right now.”