The Milwaukee Brewers blew their second consecutive game and were eliminated from the 2023 MLB Playoffs in the Wild Card round, which came after their scumbag fans boo’d injured Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno.
During the second inning of Wednesday night’s game, Brewers’ infielder Brice Turang struck out swinging on a Zac Gallen knuckle curve and Turang’s back swing ended up hitting the right side of Moreno’s head. Now, Gallen didn’t pull a Miles Mikolas, but there was still a stupid scene in the ballpark, as Brewers fans started to boo while Moreno was being checked by the team trainer with manager Torey Lovullo also on the field talking with his catcher.
Moreno, who the Diamondbacks traded for last offseason from the Toronto Blue Jays, had a solid 2023 season with Arizona, posting above average numbers on offense, while recording elite defensive numbers behind the plate. In the first game of the Wild Card series against the Brewers, Moreno hit a go-ahead home run in the fourth inning en route to a 6-3 win for Arizona.
Moreno initially stayed in the game and finished the second inning after getting hit on the head, but he was eventually replaced by backup catcher Jose Herrera to begin the bottom of the third inning on defense.
Here’s the clip of Moreno getting hit and then talking with the trainer and his manager. In the middle of this video, you’ll hear the boos coming down from Brewers fans.
Following the game, Arizona’s GM Mike Hazen expressed optimism about Moreno’s status, but also said the team wouldn’t be certain about the catcher’s health until more tests on Thursday.
Via AZ Central.
“He had some dizziness when he came out of the game, but we’ll see if that subsides as we go through the night and into tomorrow,” Hazen said. “Obviously if he tests and has a concussion, we’ll put him on the concussion IL, but that’s not what I’m hearing right now. Time is going to tell now until tomorrow.”
The Diamondbacks are now headed out west to play their division rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS that begins Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Brewers continued their postseason ineptitude and have now lost 9 of their last 10 playoff games. These two losses also put the Brewers in some not-so-good company in playoff history.
Via OptaSTATS.
The Brewers are the second team in MLB history to have a multi-run lead at home in each of the final 2 games of a postseason series but lose both by 3+ runs.
Earlier this week, the Brewers found out that Brandon Woodruff was not going to be available against the Diamondbacks because of a shoulder injury. We talked about how his absence could hurt Milwaukee’s playoff run and well, Brewers starters were bad against the Diamondbacks, blowing those multi-run leads in back-to-back games.
Here’s what Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta combined to do against Arizona.
Brewers starters in the Wild Card Series: 9 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 10 K
Woodruff said that he started to feel that something was wrong following his start on May 23. That came less than two weeks after the Brewers left Woodruff pitch all nine innings of a 12-0 blowout against the Miami Marlins. What makes that detail significant is that Woodruff missed four months from April into August with a shoulder injury and it now seems as though pushing Woodruff was the wrong decision because it may have led to his most recent shoulder issue that sidelined him in the Wild Card round.
Woodruff had a 2.28 ERA in 11 starts in the regular season, striking out 74 batters in 67 innings.
