Brewers' bullpen shines in team's third-straight win

While Deep Thought may now be absent from the Cream City, the Milwaukee Brewers bullpen certainly wasn't on Tuesday night. Abner Uribe, Nick Mears, and Trevor Megill blanked the Houston Astros lineup in the last 2.1 innings, picking up the Brewers' starter, Chad Patrick, who was impressive in his own right for a majority of his outing. In the end, the Brewers squeaked out a narrow 4-3 victory over the Astros, giving them their third-straight win, and propelling their record back above the .500 mark.

The Crew got off to a hot start, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning thanks to doubles from Brice Turang and Rhys Hoskins and a towering home run to dead center field by Jake Bauers. That was all the offense the Brewers would need to take the win, but their lead wouldn't remain comfortable for the entire night.

Patrick was off to the best start of his young career. He was through six scoreless innings with four strikeouts and a pitch count in very good shape. He came back out for the seventh inning, something Patrick hasn't been asked to do yet this season. After starting off the inning with two singles and two strikeouts, Patrick surrendered a three-run home run to Astros second baseman Brendan Rodgers, making it a one-run game. At that point, the Brewers turned things over to the bullpen.

Brewers "A bullpen" is becoming clearer every game

The term “A bullpen" refers to the relievers that a baseball team uses in the highest leverage situations — close games that the team needs to win. It often takes a little while each season for the team to figure out what their best bullpen configuration will be, as some players over or underperform their preseason expectations.

Entering the season, it was expected that Megill would be the Brewers' closer, but beyond that, things got slightly murkier. Relievers Joel Payamps and Jared Koenig got the first shot at the eighth-inning assignment, but the former fell out of that role with his slow start to the season. While Koenig remains a reliable high-leverage arm, two other names have climbed their way up manager Pat Murphy's reliever "trust tree“: Uribe and Mears.

Mears holds a 0.68 ERA through his first 14 innings this season, and Uribe has a 1.62 ERA with 20 strikeouts through his first 16.2 innings. Both were called upon on Tuesday night, with Uribe coming in to calm things down after Patrick allowed the three-run homer, and Mears saving Uribe by stranding two inherited runners for the second night in a row. Megill added a final exclamation point with a six-pitch, six-strike save to give the Brewers their third-straight win.

It's becoming clear that Mears, Uribe, Koenig, and Megill make up the Brewers’ "A bullpen." Grant Anderson, the Brewers’ under-the-radar, side-arming throwing offseason trade acquisition, also deserves a mention as he hasn't allowed a run in his last six outings. If Payamps can continue to improve, as he has in recent outings, the Brewers will have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to late-inning relief options.

The Brewers go for the sweep on Wednesday afternoon, before an off-day on Thursday, meaning the bullpen should be fully rested before the team heads to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays this upcoming weekend.