5 Brewers blamed for Game 1 loss to Mets in NL Wild Card

Milwaukee Breweries It ended on the wrong end of the scoreboard, 8-4, in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Round. Although everything fell apart after Monday’s doubleheader, New York Mets He found the energy to tear Milwaukee’s pitching apart on the road. It was a true collective effort that turned seven hits and five walks into eight runs.

We’re here to assign blame, and there are a few painfully obvious candidates. The Brewers’ offense was pretty much perfect for half the game, but then faltered. In fact, the Brewers took a 2-0 lead after one inning, then took a 4-3 lead after four innings. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, New York was able to put together five runs in the fifth inning after Pat Murphy returned to the bullpen.

Ironically, it was the Mets who outlasted the more rested Brewers, turning a night of poor sleep and scattered nerves into a thoroughly impressive performance that is sure to anger the Mets fandom and build momentum heading into Game 2.

Since MLB began its current postseason structure, 88 percent of teams that won Game 1 of the Wild Card round have advanced to the division series. Milwaukee is struggling despite its home field advantage.

Let’s spread the blame.

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The Brewers started Game 1 with Freddy Peralta as expected. The 28-year-old has been Milwaukee’s most reliable ace all season, but he wasn’t at his best on Tuesday. It wasn’t a disastrous performance on paper — two hits, one walk, leading to three deserved runs — but it was enough to shake Pat Murphy’s faith.

This led to an early transition to the bullpen, and that was all he wrote. Peralta didn’t even get a hit because he technically struck out the Mets’ Luis Severino, but every run in the postseason counts, and New York was able to tack on a few runs early to the Brewers’ righty.

So Peralta definitely doesn’t deserve it -most He’s being blamed, but he’s certainly in the ring of criticism as Milwaukee’s season hangs by a thread.

So much of coaching is luck. Pat Murphy struck out Freddy Peralta after four innings of two-hit, three-run baseball. Peralta probably had another shot or two in the tank, but Murphy went to the red-hot Joel Payamps rather than overextend the All-Star ace.

And look, on paper it was a solid strategy. Murphy explained it to reporters:

Unfortunately, after 12 consecutive goalless matches, Payamps were expected to perform poorly. And Murphy sniffed the dirt, allowing two hits, a walk and three earned runs in two-tenths of an inning before bringing Aaron Ashby into the game.

So… we have to blame Murphy for questionable arena management that clearly isn’t producing results.

Joel Payamps entered Tuesday’s game with a 1.03 ERA in his last 30 appearances and 12 straight scoreless strikeouts, as Murphy pointed out. He became Milwaukee’s middle relief player for the last half of the season. Naturally, the Payamps completely collapsed on national television in Game 1. It was pretty bad. The 30-year-old coughed up a run and couldn’t even finish the inning before Murphy was forced to return.

It’s especially crushing that Milwaukee only got four shots off Peralta. We can probably split the blame for this evenly between Peralta and Murphy, but when a fifth-inning reliever enters the game with a one-run lead, you’d rather have some longevity and efficiency. Instead, Payamps gave the lead back to New York, and the Mets followed suit.

After the Payamps were bombed (and its loss recorded in the official logbook), Aaron Ashby was called in to do damage control. He did not succeed.

Aaron Ashby took over with runners on first and second with two outs on a time play. From there, he allowed Payamps’ remaining base runners to score and coughed up a couple of ERs of his own, finishing with three hits, two walks and two earned runs allowed on zero pitches. He couldn’t even record a single. Nick Mears had to pitch a shutout in the fifth inning before Aaron Civale ground out three batters to close out the loss.

So, while Payamps took most of the contention for statistical reasons, Ashby was the pitcher responsible for New York blowing the roof off this game. Instead of getting out of the jam and giving the Brewers’ offense a chance, Ashby allowed the Mets to gain momentum.

Postseason pressure is real, but allowing five straight runners to tie is inexcusable. Ashby is probably the most “responsible” of Milwaukee’s pitchers, or at least the one who bears the brunt of the blame. You can’t control what happens before you, only what happens after you enter the game.

Rhys Hoskins was supposed to be Milwaukee’s secret weapon; A slugging machine with significant October experience, signed extra cheaply in the offseason. This was the perfect series to showcase Hoskins, who made a career of tormenting the Mets while playing in Philadelphia.

Unfortunately after this setting high expectations Late in the regular season, Hoskins failed to make it to the big stage. He finished the game 0-for-3 with an RBI in HBP in the first inning. We can’t really give Hoskins credit for HBP, but we can give him (negative) credit for being able to get into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners in the third.

That would have tied the game and perhaps shifted the momentum toward Milwaukee. Instead, Hoskins went hitless the rest of the way and watched the Brewers’ chances at victory evaporate.

New York retired Milwaukee’s last 16 scorers. Hoskins certainly isn’t the Brewers’ only hitter who deserves blame, but he does stand out.