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Brewers strand 11, 'B' bullpen can't hold lead in 4-2 loss to Guardians
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- Brewers strand 11, 'B' bullpen can't hold lead in 4-2 loss to Guardians
Pat Murphy has spoken from time to time about the need to trust all eight men in his bullpen. In practice, though, with the way he and the Milwaukee Brewers operate their bullpen, rarely is that how it plays out.
It did in the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians June 18.
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Without two of their top bullpen arms available and having only gotten five innings from the starting pitcher, it fell on a handful of lesser-used arms to get the job done.
But the trio of Joel Kuhnel , Grant Anderson and Drew Rom couldn't bridge the game from starter Shane Drohan to Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill , resulting in a 4-2 loss to the Guardians at American Family Field.
BOX SCORE: Guardians 4, Brewers 2
With its offense silent most of the afternoon against Parker Messick , Milwaukee clung to a 2-1 lead through Drohan's five innings until Kuhnel and Anderson struggled in the sixth and seventh.
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"They're guys that don't pitch a lot," Murphy said. "The walks are frustrating. You give up four runs, it's not so bad when you're missing your [top] guys in your 'pen."
Solo homers by the Guardians in those innings were the decisive swings of damage; the Brewers had their fair share of pivotal swings in the opposite direction.
Milwaukee left 12 on base as it went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position, including failed rallies in the seventh and eighth innings, as both teams combined to strand 23 runners in one of the more forgettable big-league games this year.
"We had our opportunities," Murphy said. "Hats off to the kid that pitched for them, Parker. He was tremendous. He got better as the game went on. We left too many guys on base. We struck out way too much. But that was a really good pitching we faced today."
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Brewers can't come through in seventh or eighth
Four of the first five Brewers reached in the bottom of the seventh without so much as a hit, but they couldn't scratch a run across.
Joey Ortiz 's double play following a leadoff Cooper Pratt walk against Tim Herrin was the first rally-eraser. Christian Yelich , Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang then walked against Herrin and Colin Holderman to load the bases but Andrew Vaughn grounded to short on a full count to end the inning.
They filled the bags again as Jake Bauers walked and Pratt and pinch-hitter William Contreras reached with two outs, but Guardians closer Cade Smith entered and threw three pitches by Yelich for a strikeout that pushed the Brewers' left-on-base total to 11.
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Yelich had a better series against non-fastballs, an area he has struggled this year, and doubled on a changeup earlier in the game but was overmatched on a pair of swings against Smith's splitter for the K.
"Yeli will beat himself up but he had two or three real positive at-bats," Murphy said.
Smith then came back out for the ninth and worked around a two-out walk to Vaughn – the ninth allowed by the Guardians on the day – to secure his 24th save.
Kyle Manzardo ties it and Travis Bazzana unties it
Jun 18, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Joel Kuhnel (59) throws a pitch in the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
High-leverage Joel Kuhnel made his second appearance of the series and gave up the lead in the sixth.
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The burly reliever left a 1-1 cutter right in the sweet spot for Guardians designated hitter Kyle Manzardo, who roped it out to right at 100.8 mph to make it 2-2.
With Chad Patrick and Aaron Ashby both down, the Brewers then turned to Anderson for the seventh and he also allowed a one-run solo homer to a lefty as Travis Bazzana blistered his fifth of the year to put Cleveland ahead.
Anderson then walked two more batters before departing with two outs so that Drew Rom could face the left-hander Manzardo. Rom issued the third walk of the inning and seventh of the afternoon by Milwaukee and then made it 4-2 by uncorking a wild pitch.
"We had to go deep in our 'pen," Murphy said. "Gave up some runs there but had the opportunities. I'm going to try and pick out the positive things now. It's frustrating when you have that many guys on base and don't get them in."
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Shane Drohan works five innings
Drohan got through five frames with only one run despite having spotty command all afternoon.
Drohan walked three and hit one while throwing only 40% of his pitches in the zone but allowed a solo homer and nothing more to a Guardians lineup without two of its best hitters, José Ramírez and Chase DeLauter .
"One of those days where you're not as sharp as you'd hope," Drohan said. "You just have to do that, just battle. I did a decent job battling that but have to be better about putting guys away. I felt like I let them stick around too long in ABs, get the pitch count up and see extra pitches."
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Cleveland put a runner on in every inning but the fourth but went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position against the southpaw.
Drohan's best escape job came in the third when he got a pair of groundouts after Brayan Rocchio reached on a blooper and Rhys Hoskins walked on four pitches.
"He wasn't sharp but he got through," Murphy said. "He gave us five. He was not sharp."
Cooper Pratt gives Brewers the lead in fourth
Gary Sánchez opened the bottom of the fourth with a walk against Messick and motored his way around the bases to put the Brewers ahead, 2-1.
Sánchez went to third on a Blake Perkins double to left, halting when third base coach Matt Erickson threw up a late stop sign, and scored one pitch later when Cooper Pratt lofted a sacrifice fly to center.
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Gary Sánchez puts Brewers in front but not for long
A Sánchez RBI single off the glove of Bazzana opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, but after the Brewers failed to capitalize further with two on and nobody out, Cleveland knotted the score on David Fry 's solo homer to left.
Left fielder Jackson Chourio appeared to have a play at robbing Fry's fly ball, which barely cleared the fence, but his glove hit the yellow padding as he leaped and came up short.
Brewers probable pitchers and schedule
Brewers at Braves, June 19, 6:15 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Jacob Misiorowski (8-2, 1.34) vs. Atlanta LHP Martín Pérez (5-3, 2.90). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
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Brewers vs. Braves, June 20, 3:10 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Kyle Harrison (8-1, 2.47) vs. Atlanta LHP Chris Sale (8-5, 2.30). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers vs. Braves, June 21, 1:35 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Robert Gasser (0-3-4.88) vs. Atlanta RHP Bryce Elder (5-4, 3.15). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers strand 11, 'B' bullpen can't hold lead in 4-2 loss to Guardians
