Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy wants his hitters to be woodpeckers.
Murphy smiled wide after his hitters did their best impression of the bird in Saturday’s series-opening win against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. He will look for them to do it again on Sunday afternoon when the teams meet in the finale of a two-game set.
“It’s relentless,” Murphy said. “It’s like that annoying, pesky, long at-bat. Chip away. Swing at the pitch you want to swing at. (Don’t) lose control of the at-bat.”
The Brewers will try to secure a series sweep after earning an 8-4 win in 12 innings on Saturday night. The score was tied 1-1 after nine innings and both teams scored two runs in the 11th before the Brewers broke through with five in the 12th.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he hoped to see a more complete effort Sunday. Minnesota and Milwaukee each had five days off for the All-Star break before returning to action on Saturday evening.
“Sometimes the offense can start slow (after the All-Star break),” Baldelli said. “Your timing is not quite there. You haven’t seen a pitch in a long time. So, it’s not totally shocking to see the game in the middle innings and tight. We made some things happen late. We did not execute and play good fundamentally late in the game.”
The Twins will bid for better results when they face Brewers right-hander Aaron Civale (2-7, 4.94 ERA) on Sunday. The 29-year-old is looking for his first win since April 9.
In his most recent outing, Civale took a hard-luck loss after limiting the Pittsburgh Pirates to one run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.
In 10 career starts against the Twins, Civale is 1-4 with a 4.19 ERA. That includes a tough outing on June 18 in which he allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings in a no-decision.
Minnesota will counter with right-hander Joe Ryan (6-6, 3.53). The 28-year-old notched 124 strikeouts in 114 2/3 innings before the All-Star break.
Ryan hopes to bounce back from his last start before the hiatus. He took the loss on July 12 after giving up five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings against the host San Francisco Giants.
This will be Ryan’s second career start against the Brewers. In his first outing, he finished with a no-decision despite limiting Milwaukee to one run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings on July 13, 2022.
Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio will try to stay hot at the plate after going 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the series opener. Brice Turang added three RBIs to give him 41 on the season.
“This was a relentless victory if there ever was one,” Murphy said. “On the road. Great crowd, great atmosphere and a really good team across the way.
Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez said the Brewers also deserved credit.
“Coming into this game, we knew how good that lineup is,” Lopez said. “It’s very deep. They make stuff happen when they’re on the bases. You have to challenge them.”
–Field Level Media