Devin Williams melts down in ninth as Brewers suffer tough loss to Marlins and fall a full game behind Phillies with four games left
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Another game, another blown opportunity by the Milwaukee Brewers — but this time when they can least afford it.
Two outs away from finishing Saturday night in a tie for the third wild-card spot in the National League, they instead gave the Miami Marlins life and it came back to bite them in the form of a crushing 4-3 loss at American Family Field.
Devin Williams walked a pair and then surrendered a two-run single with one out in the ninth inning, a hit that ultimately left them a full game behind the Philadelphia Phillies with only four games remaining in the season.
"Late-inning losses any time of the year are tough to deal with," said Williams. "But we have to show back up tomorrow, get a win and put up a solid nine innings tomorrow.
"It hurts. It's never fun, especially this time of the year, but we have to keep trudging along."
It had been a well-pitched game to that point, with Brewers starter Aaron Ashby, Trevor Gott, Brad Boxberger and Matt Bush combining to allow only two runs and retiring 17 of 18 batters prior to Williams entering the game.
Christian Yelich got the Brewers on the board with a solo homer in the fourth inning, then the offense cobbled together a pair of runs after putting four on in the sixth to take the lead, 3-2.
In the end the hinged on the closer Williams, who was pitching for the second straight day — he threw 27 pitches in saving Friday's game —nand third in the last four.
He began by walking Jon Berti, a bad move with Berti leading the majors in stolen bases. After Joey Wendle struck out, Berti stole second only for Brian Anderson to walk.
A wild pitch with Bryan De La Cruz at the plate moved the runners into scoring position, then De La Cruz went after a changeup down in the zone and pulled it just past a diving Mike Brosseau into left.
Berti and Anderson both scored, with Yelich misplaying the ball in left field and De La Cruz winding up at second.
"It was a changeup and anytime a guy hits Devin's changeup hard, you have to tip your cap because you don't see it too much," manager Craig Counsell said.
Williams (6-4) exited with his pitch count at 21, and Peter Strzelecki finished the frame.
All the Brewers could manage against Richard Bleier was three groundouts, wrapping up the ugly affair.
"We have to try and win as many of the next four as we can and see what happens," said Yelich.
Milwaukee finishes its series with Miami on Sunday with Freddy Peralta getting the start, while the Phillies play once more at Washington then finish with three at Houston.
Now, Williams will probably need a couple days off. The rest of the bullpen is in good shape thanks in large part to the eight innings turned in by Corbin Burnes on Friday, but with Philadelphia's magic number now at three (because of the tiebreaker) there is quite literally no wiggle room left.
"I don’t think tonight changes anything; it’s been that way for a week or two now," Williams said of the do-or-die nature of what remains. "We need to win every game we can."
Milwaukee began the game even with Philadelphia after the Phillies dropped the first game of their doubleheader at Washington earlier in the day.
The Brewers had managed only the Yelich homer in the fourth inning and came up empty in a two-on, one-out situation in the fifth before finally grabbing the lead in the sixth.
Rowdy Tellez and Hunter Renfroe singled off Jake Fishman, then after Brosseau struck out, right-hander Huascar Brazoban walked Andrew McCutchen to load the bases and nicked Luis Urías in the jersey with a pitch to force in the tying run.
Victor Caratini followed with a slow roller to second, scoring Renfroe and making it 3-2.
"We just haven't have been able to break it open," said Yelich. "We've given ourselves opportunities and put ourselves in good positions; we haven't really cashed in on it."
Not long thereafter, the Phillies put the finishing touches on the Nationals to earn the doubleheader split.
Pitching for the first time since Sunday and starting for the first time since Aug. 20, Ashby opened by retiring the first seven batters before allowing an infield single to No. 8 hitter Jordan Groshans in the third.
Peyton Burdick — who entered the game hitting .167 with two homers and four RBI —followed with a 433-foot blast off the scoreboard in center to give the Marlins the early lead.
"It wasn't where I wanted to throw it," Ashby said. "He stayed inside on a fastball there. It wasn't where I wanted to throw that pitch. Good on him to get his hands inside of it, but that wasn't where I was going."
Ashby's counterpart, right-hander Edward Cabrera, was lights-out with five strikeouts in three perfect innings but tweaked his right leg on his final pitch of the third.
He took the mound to warm up for the fourth but was subsequently pulled in favor of left-hander Andrew Nardi, who two pitches into his appearance was taken deep to left by Yelich — a shot that bounced off the top of the outfield wall and over.
"He was really good for the first three innings, no question about it," Counsell said. "So, I thought we caught a break. You knew when he came out it was going to be a matchup game the rest of the way, and that's what it turned into."
The homer was Yelich's first since his 499-foot shot at Coors Field on Sept. 6 and just his fourth off a lefty this season. It was also Yelich's 13th of the season — most since he hit 44 in 2019.
Ashby faced two batters in the fifth before being pulled in favor of Gott.
Ashby threw 65 pitches — his largest output since Aug. 19, the start before he landed on the injured list — and allowed three hits and the two runs without a walk while striking out six.
"The goal was to go five or six innings, 65 to 75 pitches," Ashby said. "Get as much weak contact and early outs as we good. Did that for the most part."
Milwaukee mounted its first threat in the bottom of the frame against right-hander Jeff Brigham with McCutchen and Jace Peterson drawing consecutive walks.
After a strikeout and flyout Yelich walked to load the bases, but Willy Adames — stuck on 96 runs batted in since Sept. 24 — flew out to center to end the threat.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers suffer tough loss in ninth and fall full game behind Phillies
