MILWAUKEE — It may be natural for young players to be more tense as September approaches and the standings begin to count, and if veteran Brewers hitting coach Ozzie Timmons heard chatter like that around the cage, he might be concerned.
But he didn’t, so he isn’t.
“I don’t think those guys pay attention,” Timmons said before Thursday’s 6-4 comeback win over the Dodgers at American Family Field. “The biggest thing is not to be in awe of the Dodgers.”
As if to emphasize the point, Timmons added: “They’re not invincible.”
The Brewers showed that by scoring late to win each of the teams’ final two games of the four-game series, with a run in the seventh inning Wednesday night and three in the eighth in Thursday’s series finale, sparked by a double by rookie Jackson Chourio on a day that began with his 15th home run.
For the second straight game, the Brewers didn’t win in style. After home runs by Chourio and William Contreras gave them a 3-0 lead in the first inning, three defensive errors – only one of which went on the scoreboard – allowed the Brewers to score two runs. The Dodgers tied the game in the third inning, took the lead in the sixth inning and came up with six outs to send the Brewers to what would have been a confidence-shattering loss.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Our young guys have a lot to show for it, even though it’s August and they’re still making mistakes. You get a little emotional about it. But they bounced back.”
Milwaukee’s young hitters punctuated the rally that gave the Brewers the lead. Garrett Mitchell followed Chourio’s leadoff double with a walk. After Contreras loaded the bases with an infield hit off Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson and Willy Adames singled to tie the game, rookie Tyler Black gave the Brewers the lead with a groundout that drove in a run.
The Brewers added another run to give shortstop Devin Williams, who pitched back-to-back days for the first time this season after spending the entire year on the injured list until July 28, some relief. He had three walks and three assists for his second straight save, passing Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts each time. It was Milwaukee’s 33rd comeback win in the NL this season, a season-best.
It’s a surprising situation on Aug. 15 for a team that traded its ace just before the start of spring training and began the season as an underdog.
“I think the impressive thing is to get beat like we did the first two games of this series and respond the way we did,” Brewers veteran Rhys Hoskins said. “I mean, the Dodgers have a certain aura everywhere they go. There’s always fans in the stands. They’ve got the best of players. I think we can gain a lot of confidence knowing that we can take a punch in the face and get knocked down and get right back in the series.”
Said Contreras: “Everybody knows the Dodgers are a good team. We know that, too.”
Aside from a four-game winning streak last week in which they crushed the Baseball Players for a combined 42 runs, the young Brewers have looked a bit shaky of late. That was especially true when third baseman Joey Ortiz couldn’t make a tough play in the second inning like he usually does, when Chourio got his glove on a ball he usually catches but didn’t, when Sal Frelick got into batting position in the seventh inning and pulled out to slash as the infielders charged but was instead tagged out, and when Mitchell went 0-for-18 at home before coming back from a 1-2 count in the eighth inning to draw a key walk.
If we lost, these moments would have been painful. If we won, they were positive learning experiences.
“We know we can compete with anybody,” Chourio said. “Our job is to go out there and show it. … I think I’ve had a lot of good ABs in this series, and especially the last two games here. I think a lot of guys would feel the same way. We were able to come out on top no matter how it came down to it.”
In a conversation earlier this week, Murphy recalled the T-shirts he handed out earlier this season. They featured the Brewers’ colors and logo, which read “Undaunted.”
“You don’t make a T-shirt because we can all do it,” Murphy said. “You make a T-shirt because you hope you can.”
