Milwaukee Brewers win, 1-0, in Pittsburgh after SP Matt Garza Ejected

The Milwaukee Brewers have had several heartbreaking losses lately. But tonight, in a must-win situation in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, the Brewers were able to pull out a needed 1-0 victory despite starting pitcher Matt Garza’s ejection in the 5th inning.

The game was a nervous, tension-filled one from the start. Almost no one was getting on base for either team, and when someone did, he didn’t score. Brewers and Pirates kept trying to get on; two Pirates (both in the form of center fielder Andrew McCutchen, in different innings) managed to reach after being hit by a pitch. (More on that in a bit.)

Let’s put it this way. Logan Schafer’s sacrifice fly in the 9th inning was by far the biggest hit in the game, as it scored the only run for either team.

So it was a pitcher’s duel throughout. But it wasn’t a usual type of pitcher’s duel at all due to the fact that Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza got thrown out in the fifth inning after hitting McCutchen for the second time.

Here was the situation. There were two outs. No one was on base. Garza had a 1-2 count, and pitched inside to get McCutchen — who’s famous for leaning over the plate — to step off the plate a bit. (As Garza said later on in the after-game press conference, you can’t take chances with McCutchen as he’s a dangerous hitter — my best paraphrase here, as I don’t have a transcript.)

Now, there is no way in the world that Garza wanted to throw at McCutchen, OK? This is a playoff game of sorts for the Brewers, as they know they must win if they’re to have any chance of overtaking the Pirates for the second and final Wild Card slot. No runs at all had been scored, the reigning National League Most Valuable Player was at the plate in McCutchen, and he’d already been hit once by Garza so Garza knew he had to be careful not to hit him again.

That said, it’s not because Garza hit McCutchen that Garza ended up getting thrown out. Instead, it’s because Pirates starting pitcher Edinson Volquez threw inside twice — two purpose-pitches — to Ryan Braun that both benches were warned. And once the benches are warned, even if a pitcher isn’t intentionally trying to hit another batter, the umpires basically have no choice whatsoever: They have to throw out whatever pitcher actually hit someone.

So we go back to Garza in the 5th inning. It’s a tie game, nothing to nothing. McCutchen is, as usual, standing right on top of home plate. McCutchen is one of the best hitters in the NL, and Garza can’t give him anything, so probably the best outcome for Garza if you can’t get McCutchen off the plate would’ve been a walk.

But McCutchen also is a very fast runner. So if you put him on, you risk him stealing a base or two and creating a run. Which is the main reason Garza was trying to get McCutchen to back off a bit from the plate — that’s the only way Garza has, as a pitcher, to force McCutchen to hit Garza’s pitch. (I know all this “inside baseball” stuff may throw some of you. If it does, don’t worry; just skip to the next paragraph or so down.)

Anyway, because of Volquez’s actions in nearly hitting Braun twice (and throwing in the same place both times), when Garza hit McCutchen twice (albeit in two different innings), tempers would’ve flared and the benches might’ve cleared if the umpires hadn’t thrown Garza out. That’s the main reason the umpires don’t have much discretion in those cases; they are trying to prevent brawls where people get hurt, then the league office ends up fining people and issuing suspensions. And when both teams are still in the playoff hunt (no matter how tenuous it might be for the Brewers), the last thing you want is for someone’s season to end via injury because of a bench-clearing brawl.

So Garza was out, and so was Brewers manager Ron Roenicke (as that’s what the rule is; both must be ejected). The game could’ve turned ugly fast for the Brewers . . .

Except that every relief pitcher who was brought in subsequent to Garza’s ejection, starting with Marco Estrada, put up goose eggs.

Look. I’m a Brewers fan, but I’m also a baseball fan. I understand that McCutchen was hit badly in Arizona on August 2 due to a stupid, intentional action. That nearly ended McCutchen’s season right then and there.

I also understand that the Pirates don’t especially like the Brewers, because for years the Brewers would go into Pittsburgh and wipe the floor with the Pirates. Even when the Brewers had horrible teams that seemingly couldn’t beat anyone else, the Brewers just had the Pirates number, and it showed.

But I also know this: There’s no way, in a playoff hunt, that Garza wants to hit McCutchen right there. It would be a stupid act. More to the point, it would be a senseless one, as he has to know that McCutchen is still upset over the August 2 HBP that nearly ended his season . . . Garza’s job was to get McCutchen out, not to hurt McCutchen.

And Garza said as much in the postgame press conference. He wasn’t necessarily kind about it, as he said, in essence, that McCutchen “isn’t his guy” and that Garza pays attention to what’s happening right now, not what happened to McCutchen back on August 2. But as Garza said, you would have to be “an idiot” to believe Garza was intentionally trying to hit McCutchen under the circumstances — especially as Garza had no way to know at the time that his bullpen would step up and that the Brewers would actually find a way to win this game after losing three heartbreakers.

Anyway, the Brewers 1-0 win has kept their playoff hopes alive. My hope now is that Wily Peralta can come out on Sunday and pitch as well as the rest of the Milwaukee starters have done for the past two weeks, and shut the Pirates right down . . . and that the Brewers offense wakes up enough to win another game.

Milwaukee Brewers Win a Wild One in Pittsburgh in 14; Gomez Ejected

The Milwaukee Brewers managed to win a wild game, 3-2, against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon. The game took fourteen innings, and featured the ejection of Brewers star centerfielder Carlos Gomez — a known hothead — in the third inning after he hit a triple off Pirates starter Gerrit Cole and appeared to delay his start from the batter’s box a bit. (Apparently Gomez thought he’d hit a homer, but he hadn’t.)

All very typical behavior in a baseball game, to be sure. Hitters do this all the time, and only rarely do pitchers get upset by it. (Instead, they try to get even, usually by throwing a baseball or two past the offending player’s head during the next at-bat.)

Words were exchanged between Cole and Gomez; Cole appeared to be barking at Gomez, and whatever Cole said was enough for Gomez to come off the bag, throw his batting helmet in frustration, and then charge toward Cole. Brewers third-base coach Ed Sedar went and immobilized Cole — an interesting choice — while Pirates third baseman Josh Hamilton tried to calm down Gomez.

At this point Pirates reserve Travis Snider charged off the bench and threw a punch or two at Gomez. The remaining benches cleared, with only Ryan Braun and Andrew McCutchen trying to keep their heads and keep everyone separated.

Before it was over, Martin Maldonado had thrown a punch that connected with Snider’s face after Rickie Weeks had Snider in a headlock, and Russell Martin threw several punches, only one of which seemed to connect (this one, perhaps, with Brewers bench coach Jerry Narron).

After all was said and done, Gomez was ejected (Elian Herrera came in to pinch run, then took over Gomez’s duties in center for the rest of the game), Narron was ejected (even though Narron didn’t do anything that I saw), and Snider was ejected.

Cole stayed in the game. Martin for the Pirates and Maldonado for the Brewers resumed their seats on the bench.

That the Brewers actually won this wild game 3-2 in fourteen innings is almost beside the point.

Yes, there were some wonderful heroics. Ryan Braun hit a solo HR in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 2, and Khris Davis, of all people, hit a solo HR in the fourteenth to give the Brewers the win.

And the relief pitching, again, was stellar — can’t ask for more from any of them, as nearly all of them are doing their jobs save Wei-Chung Wang (who wouldn’t even be at the major-league level excepting he’s a Rule 5 guy, so the Brewers have to keep him on the roster).

I’d much rather talk about the relievers as a group, or the three solo HRs from Mark Reynolds, Braun and Davis, or about Francisco Rodriguez’s 311th career save . . . but instead, what I’m left to talk about is this fight.

According to Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Brewers beat writer Todd Rosiak, Gomez explained what happened this way:

“That (Atlanta) game I know I go over (the line). But today I’m not,” Gomez said. “First of all, I hit a triple – it’s not a double – I’m not flipping my bat because I think it’s a home run. I thought it was an out. I thought it was a fly-ball out, line-drive center field. And I’m kind of like, ‘Oh, I had good contact but I don’t think it’s going out.’

“It’s not like I’m pimping a home run. Then I get to third base and somebody’s screaming at me – ‘It’s not your job.’ But everything’s over and Snider comes real angry and talks to me that way, so I responded back, he tried to punch me and everything started there. I don’t know why they’re mad for something like that.”

Then, Gomez went on to say that the Pirates had been doing a goodly amount of showboating themselves, but the Brewers said and did nothing about it. So why should the Pirates care even if Gomez was showboating (which, as you have seen, Gomez insists he wasn’t)?

That’s why Gomez insists he will not apologize. And he intends to appeal any suspension Major League Baseball intends to give him, for that matter — because he truly feels he did nothing wrong whatsoever.

Here’s a quote from Rosiak’s piece that’s from Brewers reserve catcher Martin Maldonado, the Brewers other “main offender” in today’s fracas:

Said Maldonado: “I saw Snider and Martin over Gomez. I could tell it wasn’t fair, so I had to protect my teammate. I don’t worry about (a suspension). That’s part of baseball. Whatever happens.”

Or, in not so many words, Maldonado’s saying he was protecting his teammate from being ganged up on. Period. And so if he gets suspended for that, fine.

Rosiak also interviewed Russell Martin and Gerrit Cole for his piece, and what they had to say was eye-opening in turn:

In the Pirates’ clubhouse, Cole didn’t deny giving Gomez a piece of his mind in the aftermath of his triple.

“I grabbed the ball from (Harrison) and I said, ‘If you’re going to hit a home run, you can watch it. If you’re going to hit a fly ball to center field, don’t watch it.’” said Cole. “I didn’t curse at him, I didn’t try to provoke a fight. I was frustrated and I let my emotions get the better of me and I ended up getting one of my teammates hurt.

“Not too thrilled about it.”

Snider had left the Pittsburgh clubhouse before reporters were allowed in, but Martin made it clear that the Pirates weren’t happy with Maldonado’s role in the incident.

“The fair thing would be to have our team hold down Maldonado so that Travis can go back and sucker-punch him right in the face,” Martin said. “That would be the fair thing to do. I don’t know if we ask the Brewers if they’re going to be down for that.”

I watched this game, so I can tell you for a fact that Cole did indeed swear at Gomez — Cole dropped the f-bomb a few times, in fact.

But was that enough for Gomez to go off like that?

And even if it was, should Gomez have allowed himself to get so carried away, considering he’s one of the most important Brewers on the team?

Personally, I think Gomez should’ve held his temper. He’s said in the past that he wants to set a good example for his young son, which he can’t do if he’s going to be throwing batting helmets or worse, throwing punches, no matter what the provocation.

Worst of all, the fact remains that every pitcher in the league has to know by now that Gomez is such a hothead that he can be removed fairly easily from games merely by taunting him. So if you’re an opposing pitcher, what’s to keep you from trying to “get the edge” by throwing a few f-bombs or whatever it takes to make Gomez go ballistic, which will get him tossed from ballgames like nobody’s business?

As a Brewers fan, I’m appalled that Gomez keeps having these things happen to him. He needs to learn how to hold his temper. It’s not easy, but he has to do it — otherwise his value to the Brewers is much less than it should be.

This is why, as both a person and a fan, I urge the Brewers to get Gomez into counseling before it’s too late.