It’s weird to say after losing two straight on Sunday and Tuesday, but Milwaukee has won six of their last eight games. That’s pretty good. They are right in the hunt for the playoffs as they’re 1.5 games back of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. Brewers have a chance to gain a half-game on either team tonight as they’re idle while both plays. Brewers were able to salvage a split of their matchup with the Minnesota Twins with a huge hit from Trent Grisham in the bottom of the eighth to give Milwaukee the 6-5 lead which ended up being the final. If it were not for the bullpen, they would not have had that chance in the eighth inning.

Player of the Game: Trent Grisham – If you missed his home run, you can check it out here. I wrote in the linked blog post that Grisham deserves more playing time. How he gets that, I’m unsure. Does it mean Ryan Braun moves over to first base? Does Lorenzo Cain become a platoon player with Grisham? What does that exactly look like? Regardless, Brewers have a bright future with Grisham and Keston Hiura. Those two look like the 1-2 in the batting order for the next several years to come.

Honorable Mention: Brewers bullpen – After a tough start by Gio Gonzalez, Milwaukee needed support from their bullpen. They gave them just that. Brewers bullpen shut down the Minnesota bats for no runs after the fourth inning. Jeremy Jeffress, Ray Black, Junior Guerra, Alex Claudio, and Matt Albers all played a role in helping preserve this game for the Brewers. Albers did struggle with three walks, but he found a way to finish the game off for the Crew.

The Thing I Liked: Brewers did not try to force Josh Hader – There are some that might have wanted to see Josh Hader back out of in the fire. If Brewers werent chasing Chicago and St. Louis, I might agree with you. But they’re in a pennant race where every win matters to them. Not putting Hader out there is the right move by the team for the time being. He has to get right and build back that confidence.

The Thing I’m Wondering About: What happens Friday or Saturday night? Say Milwaukee is in another tight game with Washington this weekend. I almost expect it if we’re being honest. Does Hader get the ball or will they go with the Claudio-Albers connection? We may get that answer early if the Brewers decide to bring Hader in at the seventh or sixth inning. But if he stays in the bullpen along with these two guys, things will start to get interesting.

Next up: Brewers head to Washington to face a Nationals team that is starting to catch fire again. They beat the Mets in the final game of their series then swept the Cincinnati Reds. One thing the Brewers do like is bullpen pitching, and Washington is the worst in the league. That’s something Milwaukee could feast on. Adrian Houser will try to duplicate what he did on Saturday night while Patrick Corbin goes for Washington. Corbin struggled versus the Brewers bats in the past with Orlando Arcia, Yasmani Grandal and Christian Yelich all having good numbers against him.

Charlie.