Christian Yelich’s ghastly error costs Brewers in brutal loss to Giants

Despite holding the lead in three of their four contests against the San Francisco Giants this week, the Milwaukee Brewers will hope to forget their trip to the Bay Area as quickly as possible. In the end, they only held on to one of those leads, falling back to a .500 record at 13-13 ahead of their weekend matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The most disappointing of their losses came this afternoon in the series finale. They entered the eighth inning with a one-run lead before manager Pat Murphy turned to Tyler Alexander to cover the penultimate frame. Alexander has not been a high-leverage out-getter at all this season, more often appearing at the start of games or covering multiple innings in games that aren't close. However, despite throwing Abner Uribe, Nick Mears, and Jared Koenig earlier in the game, who all have experience pitching in high-leverage situations, it was Alexander who took the mound in the eighth.

Brewers defense uncharacteristically poor in late innings of series finale against San Francisco Giants

While Alexander walked the first batter he faced and allowed a single to the second opponent he saw, it was the Brewers' defense that ultimately dropped the ball in the end. Brice Turang, who struggled on the defensive side of the ball all series, tried to nab a runner at home when he probably should have taken the out at first.

With the game tied and still only one out in the inning, Murphy elected to bring in his closer, Trevor Megill, to prevent the Giants from grabbing the lead. However, another shocking defensive miscue came on the first batter that Megill faced when old friend, Willy Adames, hit a line drive that Christian Yelich dropped, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

There's a good chance that the run would have scored regardless of whether or not Yelich caught it, as preventing it would have required a perfect throw to the plate to cut down the speedy Christian Koss. However, the nature of the error was symbolic of the uninspiring baseball that the team played throughout the Giants series. The usually steady Brewers defense did not look sharp throughout the series, and it revealed how important that aspect of the game is for a team like the Brewers to be successful. When the margins are razor thin, the defense needs to be elite.

No, the season is not over just because of one play. In fact, it's far from it. The fact that the Brewers are still sitting at 13-13 with the amount of injuries to the pitching staff that they have endured is frankly quite amazing. As the team gets healthier, and young players become more comfortable in their roles, the Brewers should still be able to have the success that they have enjoyed in seasons past. A couple wins against their division foe this weekend would go a long ways for the team's morale.