Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Heading into Game 5 of the NLCS, we figured that the Milwaukee Brewers would have starting pitcher Wade Miley on a tight leash. But even this seems excessive.
Miley walked Los Angeles Dodgers lead-off hitter Cody Bellinger. That was all that Craig Counsell needed to see, as he went out to get Miley afterwards.
It’s not that we can’t understand any of the logic here. Counsell essentially treated Miley like a short-reliever, creating a lefty-on-lefty matchup against a dangerous hitter to start the game. With a stream of right-handed hitters following Bellinger in the lineup, he went to right-hander Brandon Woodruff. Miley will still be available for Game 6.
That all makes sense. The problem is that the Brewers and Dodgers played for 13 innings on Tuesday. Now, less than 24 hours later, Counsell is again asking his bullpen to get all 27 outs in the game.
Twitter had some thoughts about this.
This will certainly be a talking point when Game 5 is over, though it’s been reported he will start Game 6 as well after being pulled.