Brewers battle for a GRITTY win in Colorado, swing a trade for Aaron Civale.

RHYS! Fernando Vina would be proud of a Brewer wearing a pitch in that situation. Don’t try to avoid the beanball, EAT IT! Granted, Vina took it to the extreme. That guy would lean into just about every single pitch that was even close to his airspace. Guy looked like Happy Gilmore in a batting cage:

But Hoskins got an RBI the hard way right when they needed it.

Now I don’t want to be dramatic about an early-July win against the worst team in the National League, but last night felt like a pretty big win. The Brewers had lost 6 straight and 11 of their last 14 at Coors Field, took a tough loss on Monday and looked like they were going to take another tough loss on Tuesday. St. Louis won again last night and seem to be summoning their annual dark magic, if you lose last night the lead in the NL Central is down to 5 games, it just felt like a mini-tipping point. You never know in baseball when something is going to turn sweet or sour for no reason in particular. One day you’re beating the Cubs brains in (again), the next few days you lose a series to one of the worst teams in baseball. For all of those reasons last night felt important. Also:

• Dallas Kuechel looked MUCH more in command in his second start. 5.1 innings of 2 run ball. In the thin air at Coors Field, you take that 100 times out of 100.
• The Brewer offense saw 55 pitches from Rockies pitchers in that 9th inning. Absurd. The definition of grinding.
• Last night marked the 26th comeback win of the season. In 26 of their 51 wins, the Brewers have had to overcome a deficit. Feels significant when we get to ass-clenching September/October baseball.

Now, the trade. The Brewers send 20-year old shortstop prospect, Gregory Barrios, to Tampa and get Aaron Civale in return. Civale’s numbers aren’t going to blow you away, a 2-6 record and an ERA over 5. But it’s worth noting that he had two really bad starts early in the season (gave up 6 runs, then 7 runs in consecutive starts) that deep-sixed his ERA. He has either been ‘good’ or ‘decent’ in every other start this season. He’s got a career ERA of 4.10, his best year was 2021 in Cleveland when he went 12-5 with a 3.84 ERA. This is a solid pickup. Let Chris Hook (one of the best piching coaches in the game) and the famed Brewer Pitching Lab get ahold of him and see what they can do. They didn’t have to give up a ton to get him, this feels like a good gamble. Plus, he’s under team control next season as well if things work out for the remainder of this season.

PS: I can’t imagine being a Rockie fan and watching 81 games a year at that park. It is CHAOS. No lead is safe, thin air, wide gaps in the outfield, pitchers can’t grip the baseball, nothing is consistent from game to game. I’m German. I thrive on routine and reasonable expectations. That park is like working a different shift every other day. No thanks.