This could have been a memorable night of baseball for Milwaukee Brewers. Jimmy Nelson looked like an ace delivering a huge start against Washington giving up one run and striking out 10 batters. Future star Lewis Brinson hit his first major league home run in the ninth inning, and Josh Hader came in and shut the door on Bryce Harper. All those things happened, but Brewers lost due to Craig Counsell removing Hader for Jared Hughes who allowed six runs to score. Brewers manager says it was the right move to make, and the question is do the numbers really make a strong case for it?

There are some things to back up Counsell’s decision, but it remains puzzling why Hughes got the call over a fresh Corey Knebel even in a 2-2 game. The next two batters were Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon. Two hitters who are great against left-handed pitching. Zimmerman had a few things go for him that may not have bolded well for Hader. He’s the team’s third best slider hitter and their second-best fastball hitter. The guy who is ahead of him in those categories? Anthony Rendon. He’s the best against lefties, period and the best slider/fastball hitter on the team. Counsell may have had a point with bringing out Hader.

The numbers do show a possibility that Hader would have suffered a similar fate, but sometimes, you have to ditch the numbers and trust your players. In that moment, Brewers young gun might have deserved to at least see what happens with Zimmerman. The game was already tied at the time, so it’s not like ZImmerman is going to homer and the lead is flipped.

Brewers ost the game because of this move. Rarely, it’s all the manager’s fault, but this one is the case. Glad some of the numbers do show why Counsell did it.

Charlie.