Chat » helping the Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-4

MILWAUKEE (AP) — When Brandon Woodruff starts Glen Perkins Jersey , the Milwaukee Brewers win.Woodruff struck out 10 in six innings and Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer, on Friday night.“I tried to go out there and make good pitches and tonight I guess the arm was just feeling good,” Woodruff said.Article continues below ...The Brewers improved to 11-2 this season when Woodruff (8-1) takes the mound, including wins in his last eight starts. The 10 strikeouts matched a career high for the right-hander, who was charged with three runs and four hits.“He’s been in a good groove here,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re talking seven or eight starts where I think he’s thrown the ball well. He’s confident in what he’s doing. It’s mainly because of the fastball. The fastball should give him a ton of confidence. He’s got hitters looking for it and he’s thrown it by them.”Eric Thames also went deep for Milwaukee, and NL MVP Christian Yelich had three hits. Travis Shaw walked twice and scored two runs.Bryan Reynolds doubled twice and drove in two runs for Pittsburgh, which has dropped four of its last five against Milwaukee. Rookie Davis lasted just three innings in his first start of the season for the Pirates.Thames put Milwaukee ahead to stay with a two-run drive to right in the second. It was Thames’ eighth of the season.Yelich made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly. He is batting .355 with 48 homers and 127 RBIs since last July 8.Davis (0-1), who became the 11th different pitcher to start a game for the Pirates this year, allowed three runs and walked five.Braun put the game out of reach with his 10th homer in the sixth. The drive to straightaway center drew a huge roar from the Miller Park crowd of 30,296 and an even bigger bat flip from the 2011 NL MVP.“I didn’t see the bat flip,” Counsell said. “(Braun) had some pitches to hit yesterday and today was a little bit frustrated with himself. But, he’s taking good swings. They made a couple of good pitches on him earlier in the game. He finally got one out over the plate.”Kevin Newman went deep for Pittsburgh, which had won two in a row. Adam Frazier had a run-scoring triple.SALUTE TO THE NEGRO LEAGUESThe Pirates and Brewers wore vintage 1930s Pittsburgh Crawfords and 1923 Milwaukee Bears uniforms in honor of the Negro Leagues. The Brewers paid tribute to John “Blue Moon” Odom and James “Rocky” Portier during a pregame ceremony. Odom and Portier played in the Negro Leagues’ barnstorming years of the 1950s.HISTORY FOR BRAUNBraun now has 12 seasons with double-digit homers for Milwaukee, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Robin Yount for most in Brewers history.TRAINER’S ROOMPirates: OF Corey Dickerson (right shoulder strain) has rejoined the team after a rehab assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis. Dickerson has been on the injured list since April 4. INF Jung Ho Kang (left side strain) also has rejoined the team after a rehab stint. Manager Clint Hurdle says the team plans to activate both players on Saturday.Brewers: Counsell says LHP Brent Suter (left elbow) will be throwing off the mound a lot in June. He says the plan is for Suter to begin facing hitters in simulated game situations around the All-Star break. Suter was placed on the 60-day injured list on Feb. 19.UP NEXTBrewers right-hander Zach Davies (6-0, 2.20 ERA) will face right-hander Jordan Lyles (5-3, 3.38 ERA) in game two of the weekend series Saturday afternoon. Davies last started Sunday against the Pirates http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-max-kepler-jersey , earning a 4-2 victory. Lyles has lost his last two starts after winning four straight decisions. Pinch hit specialist!"2018 rating: 5.062017 rating: 4.582018 salary: league minimum2018 performance: 53 PAs, 8 hits, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, .163/.226/.388 = .614 OPS. He played first and left field. 2019 status: He is on the D-backs’ 40-man roster, and he is projected to start the season in AAA.He is a “pinch hit specialist,” and more.He is primarily a first baseman, who can play left field.As his path to the Majors was blocked by other players, he developed into a pinch hitting specialist.“And we consider that [Christian Walker’s pinch hitting results are] successful.”— Torey LovulloIn the last two seasons, in 81% of his games (39 of 48 games), he had exactly one plate appearance.In those games, he has had 8 hits, 4 home runs, and 5 RBIs. That is an amazing home run per 10 PAs. In addition, he had exactly one PA in two post-season games, with one hit and hit-by-pitch.Source: Baseball Reference.In addition to pre-game preparation, his extensive in-game preparation was described byZach Buchanan.He spends several innings preparing to pinch hit. His preparations include hitting off underhand/overhand tosses Paul Molitor Jersey , and the pitching machine. “A big part of it, after sitting in the dugout for a few innings, is trying to get back up to the speed of the game in terms of your eyes and your decision-making process.” — Christian WalkerBy watching pitch counts, he anticipates which relief pitchers he might face. In the dugout, he watches video of those pitchers. “I can click righties and watch them face power-hitting righties. I can watch guys with runners in scoring position. That’s good as far as narrowing a search and looking for something specific.” — Christian WalkerBeyond being a pinch-hitting specialist, Kennedy Jorgensen wrote thatChristian Walker is comfortable with two approaches to hitting: power hitting, and doubles/high-batting-average.”I wasn’t always a power hitter, I was more of a doubles and a batting-average guy before I found the power stroke. I still remember and embrace that.” — Christian WalkerPower is his calling card. And he dominates putting the ball in play when the pitch is in the zone. OPS, which is normally a good statistic, is deceptive in this instance. This season, of the 22 position players for the D-backs, his OPS ranked 15th.You might think small sample size. Or, you could think his batting was nothing special. You would be mistaken. Christian Walker bats better than that! Insightful statistics that reflect his great hitting:He hit homers at the fastest rate on the team. His HR/PA (.0566) was the highest ratio on the D-backs. And in the last two seasons as a pinch hitter, his ratio was nearly twice as good (an amazing .1026.) Source: Baseball Reference. His percent of barrels was higher than Goldschmidt (14.8% vs 13.6%). Source: Statcast.When a pitch is in the strike zone, he put the ball in play at a higher percentage (65.7%) than Goldschmidt (48.0%), Descalso (50.5%), Peralta (55.5%) Tony Oliva Jersey , and Escobar (60.8%); caveat I calculated percentages only for those five players. Source: Statcast data. ”[My injury] could have been way worse.” — Christian WalkerOn 24 September, a Kenta Maeda’ fastball fractured his sinus. Surgery was required.”Terrible news for him because of the path that he was on. We were hoping to get him some more at-bats and maybe get him a start in left field just to expose him once again to that spot.” — Torey Lovullo”Knowing that he’s going to be a piece of this puzzle in the future, the more places that he can play I think is going to enhance his opportunity to get at-bats.” — Torey Lovullo.How have players with similar injuries bounced back? Two examples of players who recovered follow:Giancarlo Stanton was hit in the face on September 12, 2014. Possibly because 2014 was a career-best season, he had a slight drop in 2015. However, he kept playing well and had a new and better career-best season in 2017.Mitch Haniger was hit in the face on July 29, 2017. Although 2017 was a career-best season, his OPS+ and oWAR both improved after the injury. In 2018, he had a new and better career-best season.Speaking of his development, Christian Walker said, “There were a lot of hurdles to jump, like mental toughness, learning about myself and maturing?#8221; His injury is just another hurdle.Christian Walker will likely recover similarly to Stanton and Haniger, and like them, his career-best season is in front of him.