wrigley phantom
07-19-2007, 12:35 PM
MILWAUKEE -- Chris Capuano and Grant Balfour left Miller Park feeling completely different about their respective outings Wednesday night.
Capuano turned in his best start in more than a month to keep the Brewers in the game against the Diamondbacks, but Balfour surrendered a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning to doom the Brewers to a 5-2 loss before 30,247 fans. Balfour made his first Major League appearance since Oct. 3, 2004, when he was a Minnesota Twin.
The loss snapped the Brewers' four-game winning streak and sliced their division lead over the Cubs to 3 1/2 games.
"It was frustrating, obviously," Balfour said. "One pitch makes it a not-so-good outing, and we ended up with a loss tonight. I'm not very happy, but we'll work off of that."
Balfour (0-1), who was making his Brewers debut after getting recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, got off to a good start in the eighth inning. With the score deadlocked, 2-2, Balfour struck out the first batter he faced on a slider and then quickly got a groundout.
But the hard-throwing Aussie couldn't finish off the Diamondbacks. He hit Eric Byrnes on the shoulder and then walked Conor Jackson, and Mark Reynolds made him pay by crushing a 2-2 fastball over the left-center-field fence for a three-run shot.
Tony Pena (4-2) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief.
"Balfour threw the ball pretty good for the first time," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "You hate to see him get an 'L' on his first time back, but I thought he threw the ball well."
Balfour missed most of the last two seasons recovering from a Tommy John elbow surgery and then surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, both procedures coming in 2005.
Formerly one of the top 10 prospects in the Twins organization, Balfour struggled with his command in Spring Training and stumbled to an 0-2 record with an 11.24 ERA. But he has dominated both Double-A and Triple-A hitters this year, sporting a 1.69 ERA with five saves at Nashville at the time of his callup.
"His stuff is too good for him not to have success up here," Capuano said.
Capuano should know something about a successful outing. The lefty didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, and the Diamondbacks needed some luck to break through against him.
Byrnes lifted a routine fly ball into right field with one out, but Kevin Mench got his cleats stuck in the turf and tumbled to the ground as the ball arrived, turning a routine flyout into a double.
Capuano got what would have been the third out when he next retired Jackson on a groundout, but the lefty ran into trouble finishing off the inning. Capuano issued a full-count walk to Reynolds before allowing back-to-back RBI bloop singles.
"You're just trying to make good pitches and get the ball away from the sweet spot, and sometimes when you do that, they hit it under the coverage," Capuano said. "Nothing you can do about that. You've got to keep trying to make pitches and hope that they're going to hit it to somebody."
Capuano didn't allow much more than that, finishing with a line of two runs allowed on four hits and two walks in seven innings. The southpaw had gone 0-1 with a 10.03 ERA in his three starts after returning from the disabled list earlier this month.
Capuano attributed his success on Wednesday to an adjustment he recently made to his pitching delivery. He delivered his pitches with a less jerky motion, resulting in his ability to better impart a downward angle on his pitches.
"I've been struggling the last month, so it just felt good to get out there and actually know what the seventh inning feels like again," Capuano said. "It's certainly frustrating that we didn't win, but I'm happy I was able to at least keep us in the game."
Mench quickly atoned for his defensive mishap in the Brewers' half of the fourth inning. Ryan Braun led off with a walk against Diamondbacks starter and former Brewer Doug Davis, and one out later, Mench crushed a 1-0 pitch into the left-field bleachers to tie the game.
"Baseball has a crazy way of having things turn out, don't they?" Mench said.
But the Brewers couldn't tack on any more runs against Davis. The Brewers stranded runners in scoring position in two of his final three innings, with Davis constantly jamming their batters with his cutter.
"I think he lulls you to sleep," Mench said. "He threw the ball well today. I know he wanted to do well coming back here, and he did. He did what he wanted to do."
In the end, it was the eighth inning that decided the game, and of all the Brewers, it seemed Balfour took the loss the hardest.
"I made a bad pitch and got hit, and we lost the game," he said. "It's nice to get back, but I want to be successful here too."
Capuano turned in his best start in more than a month to keep the Brewers in the game against the Diamondbacks, but Balfour surrendered a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning to doom the Brewers to a 5-2 loss before 30,247 fans. Balfour made his first Major League appearance since Oct. 3, 2004, when he was a Minnesota Twin.
The loss snapped the Brewers' four-game winning streak and sliced their division lead over the Cubs to 3 1/2 games.
"It was frustrating, obviously," Balfour said. "One pitch makes it a not-so-good outing, and we ended up with a loss tonight. I'm not very happy, but we'll work off of that."
Balfour (0-1), who was making his Brewers debut after getting recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, got off to a good start in the eighth inning. With the score deadlocked, 2-2, Balfour struck out the first batter he faced on a slider and then quickly got a groundout.
But the hard-throwing Aussie couldn't finish off the Diamondbacks. He hit Eric Byrnes on the shoulder and then walked Conor Jackson, and Mark Reynolds made him pay by crushing a 2-2 fastball over the left-center-field fence for a three-run shot.
Tony Pena (4-2) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief.
"Balfour threw the ball pretty good for the first time," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "You hate to see him get an 'L' on his first time back, but I thought he threw the ball well."
Balfour missed most of the last two seasons recovering from a Tommy John elbow surgery and then surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, both procedures coming in 2005.
Formerly one of the top 10 prospects in the Twins organization, Balfour struggled with his command in Spring Training and stumbled to an 0-2 record with an 11.24 ERA. But he has dominated both Double-A and Triple-A hitters this year, sporting a 1.69 ERA with five saves at Nashville at the time of his callup.
"His stuff is too good for him not to have success up here," Capuano said.
Capuano should know something about a successful outing. The lefty didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, and the Diamondbacks needed some luck to break through against him.
Byrnes lifted a routine fly ball into right field with one out, but Kevin Mench got his cleats stuck in the turf and tumbled to the ground as the ball arrived, turning a routine flyout into a double.
Capuano got what would have been the third out when he next retired Jackson on a groundout, but the lefty ran into trouble finishing off the inning. Capuano issued a full-count walk to Reynolds before allowing back-to-back RBI bloop singles.
"You're just trying to make good pitches and get the ball away from the sweet spot, and sometimes when you do that, they hit it under the coverage," Capuano said. "Nothing you can do about that. You've got to keep trying to make pitches and hope that they're going to hit it to somebody."
Capuano didn't allow much more than that, finishing with a line of two runs allowed on four hits and two walks in seven innings. The southpaw had gone 0-1 with a 10.03 ERA in his three starts after returning from the disabled list earlier this month.
Capuano attributed his success on Wednesday to an adjustment he recently made to his pitching delivery. He delivered his pitches with a less jerky motion, resulting in his ability to better impart a downward angle on his pitches.
"I've been struggling the last month, so it just felt good to get out there and actually know what the seventh inning feels like again," Capuano said. "It's certainly frustrating that we didn't win, but I'm happy I was able to at least keep us in the game."
Mench quickly atoned for his defensive mishap in the Brewers' half of the fourth inning. Ryan Braun led off with a walk against Diamondbacks starter and former Brewer Doug Davis, and one out later, Mench crushed a 1-0 pitch into the left-field bleachers to tie the game.
"Baseball has a crazy way of having things turn out, don't they?" Mench said.
But the Brewers couldn't tack on any more runs against Davis. The Brewers stranded runners in scoring position in two of his final three innings, with Davis constantly jamming their batters with his cutter.
"I think he lulls you to sleep," Mench said. "He threw the ball well today. I know he wanted to do well coming back here, and he did. He did what he wanted to do."
In the end, it was the eighth inning that decided the game, and of all the Brewers, it seemed Balfour took the loss the hardest.
"I made a bad pitch and got hit, and we lost the game," he said. "It's nice to get back, but I want to be successful here too."