MILWAUKEE — From freshman to freshman, Brewers midfielder Joey Wiemer told Reds phenom Elly De La Cruz, “Not today!”
That was Lorenzo Cain’s mantra as he stole home runs from the Brewers, and on Monday it was Wiemer’s turn. He started a crucial series between the top two teams in the National League Central with a great defensive play as Cruz led the game with a long drive that flew a Statcast-predicted 405 feet. Wiemer felt his way back to the wall, jumped up and pulled it back.
That play helped Brewers starter Colin Rea to a 1-2-3 opening inning and the final series of the season between these divisional rivals was in full swing. Then Christian Yelich and Milwaukee prevailed and won 3:2.
De La Cruz had something of his own to say as he hit again two innings later and practiced a two-barrel home run that sailed over Wiemer’s head and well over the right midfield wall to give the Reds a 2-1 lead. At a 456 feet predicted by Statcast, it was the longest home run at American Family Field in more than a year since the Phillies’ Bryce Harper hit a 460 foot on June 9 last year.
Wiemer went into Monday night with a modest .678 OPS but occupied midfield every day due to his defense. He leads all major league midfielders in Statcast’s fielding run value metric and ranks fourth in fielder runs, a metric that ranks outfielders based on how well they keep runners from capturing extra bases.
“That’s the strength of the team, the defense,” said manager Craig Counsell when the Brewers last faced the Reds. “We certainly make decisions every day based on good defenders and a good defensive team.” …
“It all adds up. There’s less pitching for the pitcher, less jamming, less holding runners, just easy outs, less catching up guys in the bullpen. We think that along with the fact that we’re just using a lot of good defenders, there’s also spillover effects.”