Brewers finding unusual ways to manufacture runs while key hitters are injured

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers have grown accustomed to scoring runs without necessarily having much punch in their lineup.

They’re needing to do that more than ever as they wait for some of their top hitters to recover from injuries.

Milwaukee has scored three runs or fewer in six of its last eight games as it plays without the injured Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn. Yet they managed to snap a six-game skid by winning 2-1 each of the last two days, relying on small ball during their go-ahead rallies each time.

“It’s just about getting the job done, doing the little things right,” said shortstop Joey Ortiz, whose safety squeeze in the seventh inning brought home the go-ahead run Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays. “When guys get on, we’ve got to get them over and get them in. However we do that is the way we do it.”

They’ve done it in some unusual ways lately.

Milwaukee hit only one ball out of the infield Wednesday during its two-run rally in the eighth inning. The Brewers didn’t hit any balls out of the infield in the seventh inning Thursday, but still scored the tiebreaking run by executing three consecutive bunts.

“We’re not really hitting the best right now as a team, so we’re doing anything we can to make something happen,” utilityman David Hamilton said.

That kind of resourcefulness has helped Milwaukee win three straight NL Central titles. The Brewers led the majors with a franchise-record 97 wins last year and had the third-highest run total – behind only the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers – despite ranking just 22nd in homers.

“We find a way to score in literally any way,” Ortiz said.

Sometimes that means taking advantage of any assist possible.

For instance, outfielder Sal Frelick said after Wednesday’s game that the Brewers may have gotten some help from Mother Nature, which is rather notable considering they play in a stadium with a retractable roof.

A torrential downpour caused some leaking through the American Family Field roof that resulted in pockets of rain coming down in certain portions of the field. One of the areas impacted was right in front of home plate, and Frelick believed that might have deadened the ball when he hit a chopper that catcher Brandon Valenzuela was unable to pick up cleanly off the ground

Frelick reached on an error after Hamilton had led off by beating out an infield hit. Both runners ended up scoring.

The field was dry as the Brewers played under the roof again Thursday, but they still found a way to manufacture a run when it mattered.

With the score tied 1-all, Garrett Mitchell led off the seventh by walking. Then came the flurry of bunts.

Greg Jones, making his Brewers debut and playing just his 10th career MLB game, bunted Mitchell over to second. Hamilton then got a bunt single to put runners on the corners before Ortiz dropped his safety squeeze.

“Once we got the leadoff runner on, we knew we had to move him around the basepaths,” Jones said. “We weren’t swinging the bats the best, so getting the ball on the ground, moving the baseball is an easy way to get guys to the next base. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

The Brewers needed this kind of response as they closed a six-game homestand before playing their next six games away from American Family Field. Brewers manager Pat Murphy liked the way his team bounced back from adversity.

For instance, Hamilton struck out on each of his first two at-bats Thursday. Then he delivered that key bunt hit in the seventh to play a major role in a go-ahead rally for a second straight day.

“That’s what I’m looking for – that resiliency,” Murphy said. “That’s who we have to be.”

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