It was the bottom of the ninth, and manager Ken Macha was faced with a very difficult decision on who to bring out to close it out.
The Brewers had a 4-3 lead, and Trevor Hoffman was unavailable due to work on his mechanics.
Macha brought out their best reliever to date: Carlos Villanueva. Villanueva got Ronny Cedeno to fly out but then hit Ryan Doumit.
Luckily he was able to get Delwyn Young to ground into a double play to close it out. He got the only save thus far that was by a reliever other than Hoffman.
One has to wonder, will Macha stick with Villanueva, or will he have the guts to go back to Hoffman once he has worked on his “mechanics?”
Unless Villanueva implodes, I would think Macha has to stick with him. No matter what Hoffman may say, he can’t go back to Hoffman right now.
Villanueva just had a clean ninth inning, something Hoffman hasn’t done since he closed out the Padres weeks ago. How do you not stick with him?
Another positive from last night was another quality start from Chris Narveson. Narveson has been a bright spot in a struggling Brewers rotation.
He has been their second most consistent starter after ace Yovani Gallardo. He has a 4.24 ERA in May with a 3-1 record, 22 strikeouts, and only eight walks.
Also, rookie John Axford threw two scoreless innings in the seventh and the eight to give the bullpen some much needed rest. Axford looks to be a major part of the bullpen for the near future. He throws heat and can do something not too many of their relievers could do: throw clean innings.
Macha decided to shake things up a little last night as he decided to bat Prince Fielder third and Ryan Braun fourth. It didn’t really do much as Prince went 1-for-4 and Braun went hitless. Macha will probably stick with it though since they won their first in 10 games.
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