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.
For those unaware, tipping would mean that Miller had 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 (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. PANDEMONIUM IN MILWAUKEE. pic.twitter.com/WJ0muePo1D 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.
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