D¨¦j¨¤ vu: Saladino hits grand slam ... again
Adam McCalvy
@AdamMcCalvyMILWAUKEE -- Talk about a Miller Park mood swing. In the span of an inning from the bottom of the eighth to the top of the ninth on Monday, the 26,235 fans on hand went from the unlikely high of Tyler Saladino¡¯s second grand slam in as many days to the low of Eugenio Suarez¡¯s go-ahead, two-run shot.
¡°That¡¯s a tough loss,¡± Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. ¡°There¡¯s no other way to say it.¡±
It was a 6-5 loss to the Reds, settled on Suarez¡¯s second two-run homer in the span of three innings. The second was a no-doubter off Jeremy Jeffress on a 1-0 curveball with two outs, first base open and Josh VanMeter in the on-deck circle, four days removed from the start of his fourth call-up to the Reds this season.
Instead of celebrating what would have been their sixth win in seven games, the Brewers lost a game they led after eight innings for the first time all season. The blown save went to Jeffress, pitching for the third straight day and the fourth time in five days, because Josh Hader was unavailable following back-to-back 12-pitch outings Saturday and Sunday in Arizona. The Brewers have been protective of Hader¡¯s electric left arm, and there was no discussion of using him a third straight day Monday, according to Counsell.
¡°Look, the eighth was great,¡± Counsell said. ¡°We put pressure on a bullpen again. ¡®Sally¡¯ came up with a huge hit. You know, it was everything you could ask for. Suarez got a breaking ball and hit it out. There¡¯s no other rethinking it.¡±
Asked about pitching to Suarez with a base open and VanMeter on deck, Counsell said, ¡°I liked JJ against Suarez, and [if you¡¯re walking him], you¡¯re putting the winning run on base. That¡¯s generally not favorable.¡±
Suarez made the most of the opportunity to do damage again. He¡¯d already hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning off Adrian Houser.
¡°I was so concentrated on that at-bat. I knew it would be a big at-bat for me,¡± he said. ¡°I tried to win this game. I tried to win my at-bat. He made that mistake right in the middle and I just did my best. I put my best swing on it and I hit a ball out. The more important thing is we got that ¡®W.¡¯ That¡¯s all that matters. We¡¯re trying to win the most games we can.¡±
It was the second time the Brewers were burned with two outs and a base open. In the sixth, Jose Iglesias greeted reliever Matt Albers with a tie-breaking single that gave the Reds a 2-1 lead on the way to a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth. In that instance, .200-hitting catcher Juan Graterol was on deck, but asked whether there was any debate about putting Iglesias aboard, Counsell said flatly, ¡°No.¡±
Suarez¡¯s shot sucked the air out of a stadium that had just celebrated another grand slam for Saladino, the backup infielder who entered Sunday¡¯s series finale at Arizona hitting .102 with no extra base hits and 20 strikeouts through his first 49 big league at-bats this season. He¡¯d never homered with the bases loaded in the big leagues before his fourth-inning shot against D-backs left-hander Alex Young on Sunday, and the Brewers gave Saladino a chance to do it again in the eighth inning Monday night after Mike Moustakas and Jesus Aguilar singled ahead of Keston Hiura¡¯s pinch-hit walk in the eighth.
The opposing pitcher was Reds closer Raisel Iglesias, who¡¯d converted 11 straight saves as he took over for the Aguilar at-bat, but saw that streak end when Saladino sent a line drive over the center field wall to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead. The last Major League player to hit a grand slam in back-to-back games, according to Elias, was the Yankees¡¯ Jorge Posada on June 12-13, 2010 against the Astros.
¡°He¡¯s kind of our secret weapon right now, which is pretty cool,¡± said Brewers starter Chase Anderson, who pitched into the sixth inning of his 100th Brewers start and lowered his ERA to 3.90. ¡°I¡¯m happy for him, for the last two days.¡±
Did Saladino ever imagine doing that in the Major Leagues?
¡°No, never,¡± Saladino said. ¡°Hitting one, obviously, is awesome. As much as you can imagine. But hitting two is pretty cool. I never imagined anything like that happening. I guess I did a good job [of pushing the thought of it out of his mind], because as soon as I thought of it, I just let it go, and it didn¡¯t enter my head after that.
¡°But, the ultimate goal every day is to win the ballgame. Just didn¡¯t get it done.¡±