Now two full months into the 2024 Major League Baseball season, it might be safe to finally declare that the Milwaukee Brewers and their “relentless” offense aren’t a fluke.
Milwaukee has sat atop the NL Central Division for 50 of 64 days, including 31 in a row, and will wake up Saturday morning a full six games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals thanks to a 12-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox Friday night at American Family Field.
That victory not only padded their lead in the division but also provided the most comprehensive answer to a question that is asked almost daily: just how is this team, with so many rookies, talented but unproven prospects, and n0-name pitchers playing so damn well?
“Relentless” Brewers Offense is No Fluke
Manager Pat Murphy has a word for it — “relentless” — and uses it often but what does it mean?
It means going 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position through six innings and twice loading the bases with one out, only to snuff out a potential rally with back-to-back strikeouts each time, then erupting for a six-run rally in the seventh and finishing the day with 23 total hits, only four of which were of the extra-base variety and not a single one of them a home run.
“We stuck with it, we kept going and putting ourselves in those positions,” Murphy said. That’s being relentless. That’s not getting discouraged. You just have to stay after it and I’m proud of our guys because they stayed after it and played all nine.”
While the linescore — 12 runs, 23 hits, no home runs — was certainly fluky in terms of this era of launch-angle, exit-velocity, three-true-outcomes baseball, there is indeed nothing fluky about the Brewers’ offense, which has proven that it can score in all kinds of different ways.
Brew Crew’s Hot Hitting Continues
Milwaukee came into its weekend series against the White Sox ranking third among all National League teams in just about every major offensive category with 292 runs scored, a .329 OBP percentage, .415 slugging percentage, .745 OPS, 75 stolen bases, and 200 walks while also beginning the day second with 66 home runs and 170 extra-base hits.
What does Christian Yelich think about the Brewers offense? TL:DR… it’s good. pic.twitter.com/XeX3GwdxYy
— Andrew Wagner (@ByAndrewWagner) June 1, 2024
“There’s a really long way to go but I think you’ve seen that we can be dynamic,” outfielder Christian Yelich said. “Tonight was a good example of what we can do as far as creating traffic, manufacturing runs, taking extra bases and stealing bases but we’ve got guys who can hit for some power too.”
Yelich says that versatility will be key for the Brewers when they inevitably hit a lull, as all teams do at some point over the course of a 162-game season.
“You can go up against tough pitching and somebody might get you that particular night, but night after night, you give yourself an opportunity to score, have traffic out there, and be dynamic, that’s really what you want to be,” Yelich said. “If you can score in multiple ways, you can shorten those tough stretches.”
Milestone For Yelich
Yelich was one of the biggest producers for the Brewers Friday night, collecting five hits in six trips while driving in five runs to raise his batting average from .297 to .325 while also boosting his OPS to a team-high .970.
The five hits were the most in one game for Yelich since he had five over 14 innings on Aug,. 17, 2019 against the Washington Nationals and the first by any Brewers player since Luis Urías collected five hits, all for extra bases, in a 17-4 victory over the Cubs on Aug. 12, 2021.
It was also a historic night for Yelich, who recorded his 300th career double during Milwaukee’s breakout inning, though it wasn’t exactly the most memorable way to hit such a milestone.
Christian Yelich is having a night 😳#Brewers #MLB #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/9t6QcCfedH
— Bally Sports Wisconsin (@BallySportWI) June 1, 2024
“It was a weird play,” Yelich said. “The slider kind of backed up on me on 3-2 and it was kind of a check-swing because I kind of saw (the pitch) spinning out there. I accidentally hit it, then it was going foul but whatever kind of spin on it brought it back fair then I almost fell down going around first base but I made it to second.
“It wasn’t the cleanest or prettiest one, but no complaints here.”
Injury Report
Rhys Hoskins returned from a two-week stint on the injured list and was in the starting lineup as the designated hitter. Murphy said that Hoskins is clear to return to the field, too, and could be back at first base as early as Saturday.
There was more good news on the injury front, as right-handed reliever Trevor Megill continues to show improvement after taking a pitch off his right forearm earlier this week.
“He’s close,” Murphy said.
Up Next
Robert Gasser (2-0, 1.96 ERA) will try to continue his impressive start to his big league career when he leads the Brewers in game two of their three-game set against the White Sox at American Family Field. The rookie has allowed just one walk through 23 innings while holding opponents to a .250 batting average in his four starts, all of which have been Brewers victories.
Left-hander Garrett Crochet (5-5, 3.68) gets the start for Chicago. The Brewers will hope their “relentless” offense can score early and often on the southpaw.
Photo Credit: © Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
