The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday, 7-1, for their tenth straight victory. With that win, Milwaukee became the first team in six years to string together multiple win streaks of ten games or more in the same season.
“I’m proud of the club competing every day, whether we lost one in there or we won ’em all, ten of ’em,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy after the victory, which improved Milwaukee’s record to an MLB-best 74-44. “I’m proud of the club, the way they’re competing every day. In all these games, they’ve competed.”
Since the All-Star Break, the Brewers have the best record in baseball with 18 wins compared to just four losses. The next closest team, the Cleveland Guardians, is 15-7 during that stretch.
“They find a way to put the ball in play [and] do a lot of different things,” said Pirates interim manager Don Kelly during a postgame interview. “They grinded bats out. They find a way to continue to put the ball in play, move guys around. They run the bases really well, and they did that tonight.”
The Brewers’ run differential has been outstanding as they have scored 138 more runs than they have allowed this season. During this recent ten-game win streak, they have outscored their opponents 77-34.
“I think it’s just staying present and really not focusing on the past or the future,” said Brewers outfielder and former three-time All-Star Christian Yelich following the win. “Just looking at what we got to do tonight or today to win and putting all of our energy or preparation into that… It sounds easy, but it’s something that’s hard to do. We’ve been harping on it all year.”
Milwaukee got off to a fast start last night with a home run from second baseman Brice Turang to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Though the Pirates tied things up in the third, the Brew Crew responded with a four-run inning to pull ahead 5-1.
“Turang and Yelich hit the home runs. And then they were able to get guys on base,” said Don Kelly. “They strung a lot together there in that inning… The other guys, they just grinded bats out.”
During their ten-game win streak, the Brewers are averaging 7.7 runs per contest. They have also scored at least seven runs in nine of their last 13 games, with a 12-1 record during that stretch.
“We have to play up-tempo baseball offensively, against whoever’s pitching. It doesn’t matter,” explained Pat Murphy. “We’re not gonna sit back and try to slug. That’s not our game. I know I hear that that’s the only way to win in big situations. Whatever. We have to do what we have to do, who we are.”
“The guys have done a great job,” said Christian Yelich. “We’ve come a long way over the course of the year. Just gotten better at a lot of things and kept working at it. It’s a credit to a lot of our young guys. Keep putting in the work and continuing to try and get better and make improvements… We’re just playing the game. It’s a team game, and you need to play the game as a team, and I think we do a really good job of doing that.”
Despite the recent success, the Brewers are ensuring they don’t get complacent. They recognize that they’re aspirations extend past having the best record in baseball on August 12th.
“Honestly, nobody cares about what we have done the past month,” Christian Yelich told ESPN. “It’s all great, but we have bigger goals than winning 74 games or whatever it is. That’s great, but that wasn’t really our goal going into the season. We have bigger aspirations than that.”
The Brewers continue their three-game homestand against the Pirates this evening. The first pitch in that one is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. EDT.
