Milwaukee Brewers: Matt Garza’s recent struggles

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza is in the middle of a rough patch, including his most recent start against Colorado. With the Brewers in a playoff race, they really need one of their veteran leaders to step up and be a difference maker.

On the season, Matt Garza has a 4.81 ERA with 36 walks, 67 strikeouts and a 1.40 WHIP in 101 innings pitched. The ERA is inflated due to his last three starts. Before that point his ERA was at 3.68.

The most significant part of Garza’s struggles is that he isn’t giving the Milwaukee Brewers an extended start. His longest outing this season was 6 1/3 innings against Baltimore. However, he has only hit the six inning mark twice this season. This is one of the reasons that the Brewers bullpen is one of the most used in baseball. As the season rolls on, it will continue to hurt the Brewers in the late innings.

What Happened In Garza’s Most Recent Starts?

In Garza’s last three starts, he has given up 18 earned runs in 13 innings. These include seven runs against Minnesota, three against Cincinnati, and eight against Colorado. To be fair, Colorado is a tough place to pitch, and his start against Cincinnati was solid considering the offense the Reds possess.

However, the two starts in which he lost were big starts for the Milwaukee Brewers. The start in Minnesota was when the Brewers were struggling and needed a good start to get out of the slump. In Colorado, it was the opposite, as the Brewers were on a four game winning streak and got good offensive production. Garza couldn’t hold up his end and the Brewers lost a game in the standings.

Despite his struggles, Garza has been a veteran leader off the field. Garza, along with Ryan Braun, are the ones who called a players only meeting not too long ago. The meeting seemed to make a big difference. The Brewers have won all three series they’ve played in since the meeting. The players also look to be having more fun, which reportedly was the focus of the meeting.

However, Garza isn’t enough of a leader on the field, as he hurts his team in multiple ways. A pitcher should not be judged solely by their ERA. Considering the whole picture is key to seeing if they are helping, or hurting the team.

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There isn’t any real possibility that the Brewers would get rid of Garza. There is no reason Garza can’t get back to the success he had earlier in the season. However, he has shown that he is incapable of giving the Milwaukee Brewers extended innings. It will be interesting to see how the bullpen holds up as the team reaches the start of September and continues their playoff push.