The Milwaukee Brewers are rolling toward the playoffs in the National League and are trying to secure the top seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs over the final few weeks of the regular season. At the moment, the task at hand is knocking off the Texas Rangers in a three-game set in the Lone Star State.
That is proving to be a difficult task, as the Rangers followed up a dominant 5-0 win on Monday night with a 5-4 victory on Tuesday as they pursue wild card dreams of their own. Outfielder Michael Helman, hitting out of the bottom of the lineup, has been the star of the show for Texas through two games in this series.
Helman went 2-for-3 with a grand slam and an RBI double in the series opener on Monday and followed that up with a massive two-run home run on Tuesday night that proved to be decisive in the win. After the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy teased an extreme plan for Helman in Game 3, via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
“Take your hat off to Texas,” Murphy said. “I mean, the way those guys played, they were relentless. They came back once we were ahead, and they made great defensive plays. We're watching a kid in center field (Helman) that can change the game. He ran Durbin's ball down, that's not an easy ball. Then he robs a home run from Turang. And that's the deepest part of the park. In our park, that's over the bullpen.”
Murphy later talked about what Helman has done at the plate in this series.
“He's been swinging the bat great and playing great. We obviously noticed that,” Murphy said. “But he's having some kind of series. This kid — we could intentionally walk him four times tomorrow.”
That would certainly be extreme and is unlikely, but the quip is a testament to just how well Helman is seeing the ball at this point in the season.
Milwaukee is slated to have Freddy Peralta going on Wednesday, so Murphy will feel pretty good about his chances with his ace on the mound. However, with Helman seeing such a big ball, there's no telling what he may be able to accomplish next.
