Why did Brewers manager Pat Murphy yank his starter in the middle of an at-bat?
Garrett Mitchell caps big series with two doubles and a homer
Garrett Mitchell had a sore foot coming into Thursday’s series finale with the Mariners but responded with doubles in his first two at-bats and then a homer.
- Brewers manager Pat Murphy pulled pitcher Robert Gasser mid-at-bat in the fourth inning due to inconsistent pitching.
- Gasser struggled with walks, allowing four runs after the Brewers’ offense scored six in the first inning.
- The Brewers’ bullpen pitched 16 ⅓ scoreless innings in the three-game series against the Mariners that was capped by the 7-4 victory.
- Gasser’s performance has put his future as a starter in question, as other pitchers compete for a spot in the rotation.
Pat Murphy’s emotions were on full display in the fourth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers’ eventual 7-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners at American Family Field on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 20.
At issue was the way Robert Gasser had been pitching to that point – inconsistently enough that the skipper sauntered out of the dugout two pitches into his at-bat against Randy Arozarena and yanked the left-hander in favor of Chad Patrick.
“I wanted to take him out,” Murphy said of Gasser. “I was kind of hot. I was a little too emotional right there. He got us 11 outs but gave up five free bases and it looked like he’d have another one, so I just pulled the plug.”
Gasser set the tone for his day by walking the first batter of the game, Brendan Donovan. He allowed a single three batters later but stranded both baserunners and then was delivered a gigantic gift when the Brewers’ offense exploded for six runs while batting around against George Kirby in the bottom of the frame.
“I mean, you see six go up in the first and you kind of start licking your chops as a starter,” said Gasser.
How did Gasser respond?
By walking Taylor Ward to start the second, recording the next two outs and then allowing a single to No. 9 hitter Brock Rodden. Donovan then made both transgressions sting when he followed by ripping a double to the gap in right-center, allowing the Mariners to immediately answer instead of Gasser answering by posting another zero.
And while Kirby made adjustments from there that kept Milwaukee from tacking on any further, Gasser followed up a 1-2-3 third by walking Cole Young to start the fourth.
Jhonny Pereda singled, then Gasser recorded the next two outs before firing a first-pitch changeup to Arozarena that got past catcher Gary Sánchez for a passed ball and another run. From there, one more ball was all it took for Murphy to head to the mound and yank Gasser.
It marked the second time in less than three weeks Murphy has done so with one of his young starters; Brandon Sproat suffered the indignity in the midst of an eventual loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 3, with the right-hander being demoted to Class AAA Nashville in the aftermath.
“You want to win the game,” Murphy said of his removal of Gasser. “You lose that game, it changes a lot.”
Following the walk to Arozarena, Dominic Canzone blooped a single to center that scored Pereda and pulled Seattle to within 6-4 with all sorts of game remaining.
“You want to go as long as you can, protect the bullpen,” said Gasser. “It’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to do that today.”
Fortunately for Gasser and the Brewers, Patrick, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill combined to shut the Mariners down from that point on, with Garrett Mitchell’s eighth-inning homer providing some insurance and capping the scoring.
Aside from the offense putting up 22 unanswered runs in the teams’ opener and the six-run first in this one, the story in the series from the Brewers’ perspective was the job the bullpen did with 16 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief while key cog Abner Uribe continues his recovery from a forearm strain on the injured list.
Patrick earned the win to improve to 7-4 and Megill continued his run of impressive work by converting his 15th consecutive save and 23rd on the season while retiring 30 of the last 31 batters he’s faced.
“It felt like a battle from the second on,” Gasser said. “But luckily Chad was nails, and Aaron and Trevor locked it down.”
Gasser, meanwhile, was forced to settle for his second-shortest start of the season at 3 ⅔ innings. He allowed four hits, four runs and four walks – three of which began innings – with four strikeouts over 77 pitches.
“Leadoff walks always come back to bite you,” Gasser said. “Made the innings a lot tougher from the get-go, got the pitch count up and it’s just not where you want to be.”
Gasser was asked what he thought the issue was.
“I feel like it was a little bit of my direction,” he said. “I was kind of pulling off the ball, not staying through it. It’s something I’ve been working hard on. Against righties I felt decent – especially with the cutter. Against lefties it was more the sinker I wasn’t able to locate, especially early.”
Through 15 starts, Gasser sits at 3-5 with a 4.79 ERA, WHIP of 1.29 and 72 strikeouts over 77 innings. Batters are hitting him at a collective .253 clip and his 13 homers allowed are tied for second-most on the team with Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison but in far fewer innings compared to the duo that forms the top of Milwaukee’s rotation.
With Logan Henderson and Dustin May also ahead of him in the pecking order, and Shane Drohan also having shown immense promise during his time in the rotation, Gasser likely doesn’t have many more opportunities ahead of him as a starter this season.
He’s more than two years removed from Tommy John surgery at this point and has yet to flash the promise he did in the five starts he made in 2024 before blowing out his elbow.
Now 27 years of age, will he ever do so again?
Stay tuned.