Keuchel displays value to 'feisty' Brewers as he makes case to stick in rotation

DENVER -- With the July 30 Trade Deadline exactly four weeks away and the price for starting pitching steeper than the Rocky Mountains, 36-year-old Dallas Keuchel showed the Brewers he still has something to offer.

Making his second start since the Brewers plucked him from the Mariners’ Triple-A club for $1, the former American League Cy Young Award winner held the Rockies to two runs while pitching into the sixth inning of Milwaukee’s come-from-behind 4-3 win on Tuesday -- an outing that qualified as conquering Coors Field.

Keuchel’s start came in a victory thanks to Brewers hitters grinding through a 55-pitch, eight-batter, two-run rally in the ninth inning that included Christian Yelich’s third hit of the night in the final hours of his bid with catcher William Contreras to win a starting spot in the All-Star Game, Willy Adames’ tying sacrifice fly after falling into an 0-2 count and Rhys Hoskins’ go-ahead RBI the hard way. Hoskins, too, fell behind 0-2 but hung in long enough to get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

After Trevor Megill avoided similar traffic in the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers snapped a six-game Coors Field losing streak.

“We’re feisty,” said Keuchel, who has seen his new team come from behind to win each of his first two starts. “I don’t know how many times I faced the Brewers, but it always seems like they find a way. Everybody is very resilient.”

The same could be said for 36-year-old Keuchel, who took a big step after yielding five runs in four innings against the Rangers last week in a Brewers debut that came at the end of a whirlwind 24 hours following the trade. For the Brewers, it was a dose of stability for a rotation that has employed 15 different starters, including a handful of openers.

That’s a good thing, because as they prepare for the Trade Deadline on July 30 at 5 p.m. CT, the Brewers are finding the price of pitching to be astronomical.

“I think that’s fair, yeah,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said on the last homestand. “The reality is there aren’t a lot of sellers right now.”

A look at the standings reveals why that’s so. While five of the six current division leaders have a cushion of three or more games on second place, the Wild Card races are tight. In the NL, only two of the 15 teams are more than 5 1/2 games outside a postseason berth.

“Nobody wants to give up yet, and I get that,” Arnold said. “Everyone is still in the hunt. I think that’s a good thing for our sport, that there’s a lot of competition to get in the playoffs. I like competitive teams. But the reality is that then it cascades into the Trade Deadline and there aren’t many options that teams want to give up at this point.”

The Brewers did find one team willing to deal on Wednesday, when they acquired right-hander Aaron Civale from the Rays for infielder Gregory Barrios, Milwaukee's No. 21-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline.

Should the Brewers continue to seek rotation help, MLB.com's Mark Feinsand included four starting pitchers among his list of 13 potential trade chips for the teams that appear most destined to become sellers: Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson, White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet and right-hander Erick Fedde and Rockies right-hander Cal Quantrill, who is scheduled to start Thursday’s series finale against the Brewers.

Between now and the Deadline, Keuchel will make his case to stick.

The only damage off him Tuesday came in the second inning, when Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle homered off the base of the foul pole in left field and Garrett Stallings followed with a triple that led to the go-ahead run. After that, Keuchel settled in to deliver 5 1/3 innings, with four hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.

He threw 78 pitches and praised Contreras as one of the best game-callers with whom he’s paired in recent seasons.

“The second inning felt like it was a bunch of uppercuts, even though there was only one ball hit hard,” he said. “You have to work through that mentality here at Coors Field. … I still would like to tidy up some stuff, but there were some very good positives.”

Keuchel and the Brewers will look to build on that. After all, they got a similar midseason lift last season from another former Opening Day starter in Julio Teheran.

“Guys like him aren’t the best in the world necessarily for their stuff, it’s between the ears,” Megill said. “I like what I’m seeing with him front-hipping righties and throwing changeups off of it, and keeping people off balance right now. We’re really hoping we got this Teheran-type of starter coming in near the Trade Deadline.

“We really hope he just keeps doing what he’s doing because I like what I’m seeing right now.”