Milwaukee Brewers: 250 Words or Less: 7/20/11

The ends justify the means.

The Milwaukee Brewers will tell you that as they got a 10th inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-2. There remains plenty to say about how they got there, but sometimes you just have to take the win.

Chris Narveson had a fantastic game tonight, going 7 innings and allowing no walks and 4 hits. It was Narveson’s best game since early June. He finished 7 innings in under 90 pitches, and seemed primed to go 8 or further. Instead the team went with new set-up man Francisco Rodriguez, who was credited for allowing 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th.

It was once again the Brewers’ defense that ruined a perfectly good day. A routine play gone wrong by Prince Fielder kept the inning alive, though it wasn’t charged as an error. K-Rod got tagged with those runs, and while he did give up two hits and the runs after what should have been the 3rd out, the blame truly falls to Fielder who has fallen apart on defense in the last few weeks.

Ryan Braun played his second straight game and started off with a solo home run. The Crew scored again in the 7th, chasing Arizona’s starter from the game. It had been an entertaining pitchers duel through that point. Takashi Saito held serve in the 9th to force extra innings, and John Axford got the save after the Brewers took the lead in the top of the 10th. The Diamondbacks made the mistakes this time, as a wild pitch and a balk put Milwaukee in position to score 3 times and take the lead for good.

Zack Greinke will work to finish the series tomorrow evening. The Brewers are now 4-3 on this trip.

 

Follow me on Twitter (@MilwaukeeBrian) and don’t miss the Brewers’ “A Simple Kind of Fan” each Tuesday from Pocket Doppler’s Brew Town Boozer.

 

Tags: 250 Words, Arizona Diamondbacks, Carlos Gomez, Chris Narveson, Francisco Rodriguez, John Axford, Milwaukee Brewers, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Takashi Saito, Zack Greinke