Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell was in the hot seat following a frustrating extra inning loss against the Colorado Rockies in which the final score ended up being 7-3. Fans were a bit puzzled prior to the game starting for hot hitting Sal Frelick was not in the lineup against southpaw Kyle Freeland. Then some questionable pitching decisions were made as the game progressed.
After starting pitcher Wade Miley went six innings manager Craig Counsell handed the ball over to Elvis Peguero with a one run lead. Peguero, who threw 10 pitches the day prior in a 12-1 Brewers victory, has been the seventh inning guy for the vast majority of the season. Unfortunately he surrendered back to back home runs and the Rockies took the lead.
The Brewers were able to counter and tie the game up at three, which led to Joel Payamps pitching the eighth inning. In the ninth inning, with the game still tied, Devin Williams took the hill and threw 15 pitches to send the game into extras.
To begin the 10th Andrew Chafin was called upon. Similar to Peguero he pitched in a blowout the day prior (11 pitches). Unfortunately of the 11 additional pitches he threw on Tuesday night eight were all out of the zone and he walked in the go-ahead run. After facing three batters a pitching change to rookie Abner Uribe was made in which he too struggled to throw strikes as he sustained a pitch clock violation and then threw seven straight balls to bring in two more runs.
Following this loss to the Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell explained his decision making process.
Craig Counsell said he chose Andrew Chafin to start the 10th because he liked that particular matchup vs. switch-hitting Michael Toglia. Chafin was going to get the first three hitters only, then Abner Uribe if necessary.
As to why he elected to go with Abner Uribe in a very tough situation, Counsell responded with the following.
“That’s part of this process, that’s part of being a big league pitcher. It’s the 10th inning. That’s the spot for him. He recovered, which is the lesson to learn from it.”
Game three of the Brewers vs Rockies series will be on Wednesday, August 9 with the first pitch scheduled for 1:10 PM CT.
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