In Game 2 of the NLDS on Sunday, the Brewers came back in the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory over the Padres. It was, from a certain point of view, a rather shocking turn of events with the best team in baseball storming back to win with two outs in the ninth against Mason Miller, arguably the best closer in baseball.
In the hours and now days following Miller's blown save, many on social media have been posting pictures and videos, claiming that Miller was "tipping" pitches, or giving away some sort of tell to accidentally let the Brewers know which pitch was coming. He was only throwing four-seam fastballs and sliders, so any tipping would identify one pitch or the other to the batter.
From the perspective of Miller and his manager, though, that was not the case.
"I don't really know what to make of it," Miller said, via MLB.com. "I feel like there was only one pitch that it would have had an impact. If you're tipping your pitches and it's a ball -- I just don't think it had anything to do with the walks. I also have a hard time believing I just magically started doing it."
To Miller's point, he got five outs and only gave up one hit. He walked three batters and most of the misses were bad misses. He appeared to be gassed in his second inning of work. And any pitcher would tell you that when they get tired, the command goes before the velocity.
There was one pitch where Miller wondered if maybe a Brewers player knew what pitch was coming, as he mentioned above. It was a 1-2 slider to Jackson Chourio that was an excellent take.
"That just seemed like a really confident take," said Miller.
Later in the at-bat, Chourio delivered the game-winning hit to give the Brewers a 2-0 series lead with the chance to move on to the NLCS in Game 3 on Tuesday night.
Still, hitters guess. It's always a huge leap when someone sitting at home on a computer decides to just start posting still pictures to social media as if it's some grand discovery.
"We've got a crew of people that are dedicated to that every single day," Padres manager Craig Stammen said. "That is their sole job. We're well aware of what's going on with our pitchers, well aware of what's going on with the Brewers' pitchers and how they do things. It's part of our daily acumen. The internet can go crazy and take things further than they need to go. We feel good about our process within that situation."
"Yeah, the screenshots look like I'm here to here -- like really noticeable," Miller said. "But I don't feel like I am. … I've pitched with guys at second base all year. If that was there, I feel like it would've been picked up on a lot sooner than yesterday."
Miller is throwing a fastball well over 100 miles per hour and his slider is nearly 90. Even if Milwaukee's hitters knew what pitch was coming, that's awfully tough to turn around. And even if the Brewers knew what pitch was coming, they did nothing wrong there.
It's also worth pointing out that Miller mowed the Brewers down with ease in the eighth inning and usually only throws one inning in his outings. It was the second inning he pitched when he ran into trouble and, again, the only hit he allowed was on his 40th and final pitch. That was a season high, by the way.
The bottom line is the Brewers came back against one of the top closers in baseball and now hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
