Brewers offense comes up small in series loss to to D-backs

Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Josh Donaldson. Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Brewers offense comes up small in NLWC series loss to to Diamondbacks

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated 10/4/23

Behind a sleepy offense, the Milwaukee Brewers saw their 2023 postseason run come to a screeching halt on Wednesday, falling 5-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who completed a two-game sweep of the wild-card series.

While pitching salted away early leads in both games, the Brewers offense came up remarkably small when it mattered most. In Game 2, the Brewers offense gave starter Freddy Peralta an early 2-0 in the first inning. However, strong pitching silenced the Brewers bats the rest of the game, helping punch the Diamondbacks' ticket to the NL Divisional Series.

The loss was eerily similar to the one the Brewers suffered in Game 1. On Tuesday, the Brewers jumped ahead 3-0 after three innings in support of starter Corbin Burnes, but the offense had nothing left, and Milwaukee ultimately fell 6-3.

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.

The other was the Cubs in Games 6 & 7 of the 2003 NLCS against the Marlins.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 5, 2023

The Brewers managed only five runs off 22 hits against the Diamondbacks. Furthermore, the Brewers left an incredible 20 runners on base over the two-game series compared to the Diamondbacks' 11 and were only 6-of-20 with runners in scoring position.

Combined, Peralta and Burnes gave up eight earned runs off eight hits through nine innings pitched. That's not good, but in the postseason, good teams have offenses that can pick their pitchers up when they have a bad inning, and the Brewers produced the opposite.

The Brewers finished below the league average in runs scored per game (4.49) during the regular season, and the belief that it could become an issue in the postseason hung over the squad. Now, after an earlier-than-expected exit, the Brewers have a long offseason to wonder what could have been while turning their focus toward making changes to avoid a repeat of the offensive blackout they saw over their final two excruciating games of 2023.

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