Brewers stumble into All-Star break in need of a reset, All-Star look ahead, MLB Draft reaction

A tough series against the Giants sends the Brewers into a much needed break.

We’ve finally reached the All-Star break and it comes when the Milwaukee Brewers need it the most. The Brewers finished the first “half” of their season with a four game set against the San Francisco Giants.

A stellar Corbin Burnes performance on Thursday evening helped lead to an extra innings victory, while Friday saw the game slip away in the 9th inning as Josh Hader had his toughest outing of the season.

Saturday and Sunday weren’t much better. Saturday featured a controversial balk that gifted the Giants a run and Sunday was a losing battle from the third inning on. The Brewers still head into the break with a lead in the NL Central, so things could certainly be worse.

Adam and Andrew react to some of the series’ most noteworthy moments, talk All-Star week, and react to some intriguing MLB Draft selections.

Master Brewer Leaderboard (through 93 games)

(The Master Brewer Leaderboard is a season-long leaderboard tracking and ranking exceptional performances from Brewers players in the form of Master Brew Points 🍺, which at the end of the season will tally up to crown our Crewsing for a Brewsing Player of the Year.)

Corbin Burnes 🍺

The reigning NL Cy Young winner and NL All-Star finished his first half in style with another exceptional performance. Burnes went 7.1 innings against the Giants with one earned run allowed and 10 strikeouts. On Sunday it was announced that he will attend the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles this week, but he will not pitch in the game. He wants to be fresh for the rest of the year and not take any injury risks. I’m sure Brewers fans can appreciate that type of commitment to the team and their goals.

Eric Lauer 🍺

Eric Lauer’s positive trend line continues to point upward. I hope nobody sold their Lauer stock when he was struggling. Sorry, wrong podcast. His seven innings of work with only one run allowed kept the Brewers in the game late, but the inning after Lauer exited an umpire who wanted to make the game about himself turned things into a 2-1 Giants win.

Brandon Woodruff 🍺

Sometimes part of being an elite frontline starting pitcher is fighting through a game when you don’t have your sharpest command. Woodruff did just that against the Giants. He allowed 10 baserunners in the game (five hits and five walks), but limited the damage to just two runs. Woodruff looks poised to have a huge rest of the season.

Hoby Milner 🍺

What’s something that’s becoming a sure thing during the 2022 MLB season? Hoby Milner has entered a baseball game. Hoby Milner has pitched in a baseball game. Hoby Milner has exited a baseball game. Hoby Milner’s opponent has scored zero runs. It’s like clockwork.

Willy Adames 🍺

Adames was a bright spot at the plate this weekend. He finished 5-for-18 with a homer, two runs, and two RBI. Despite struggles with strikeouts, Adames’ power surge has been special to watch. He is currently tied with Hunter Renfroe with the highest slugging percentage on the team at .477.

Jonathan Davis 🍺

It’s unclear how much longer Davis will be on the roster given the imminent return of Tyrone Taylor and uncertainty around the trade deadline, but his contributions lately have been exactly what Milwaukee has needed from him. Against the Giants, Davis finished 4-for-15 at the plate with two runs, one RBI, and two walks. His 10th inning infield single in Game 1 turned out to be the game-winner and he continued to play outstanding defense (other than one throwing error).

Leaderboard through 93 games

Corbin Burnes, Rowdy Tellez: 🍺 x12

Jace Peterson, Christian Yelich: 🍺 x9

Willy Adames🍺 x8

Andrew McCutchen, Josh Hader: 🍺 x7

Brandon Woodruff, Devin Williams: 🍺 x6

Eric Lauer, Hoby Milner, Luis Urias, Tyrone Taylor, Hunter Renfroe 🍺 x5

Keston Hiura, Kolten Wong🍺 x4

Victor Caratini, Jason Alexander, Aaron Ashby, Freddy Peralta: 🍺 x3

Jonathan Davis, Trevor Gott, Brad Boxberger, Omar Narvaez, Adrian Houser: 🍺 x2

Luke Barker, Peter Strzelecki: 🍺