The Brewers beat the Twins 4-3 Friday night thanks to a two-run double by Prince Fielder in the 7th inning. The double came with two outs and the Twins leading 3-2, so it ended up being the game-winning hit. Relief pitcher Jose Mijares didn’t get charged with the loss, but he’s the one who gave up the big hit and he blamed it on poor pitch calling by catcher Joe Mauer.
Mijares was upset that Mauer called for several fastballs in a row instead of a breaking ball. Mauer countered by saying Mijares missed his location on the pitch. Here’s a video of the at-bat to see what happened:
Mijares missed his location by the entire plate. Mauer called for an outside fastball — a reasonable pitch call with a full count — and Mijares threw it inside. Had he hit his spot and still allowed a two-run double, his complaint might have some credence. The problem is he didn’t execute his job. It’s also wrong that manager Ron Gardenhire backed Mijares saying he would have liked to see a breaking ball called as well.
We don’t know what would have happened if Mijares threw a breaking ball instead, but we do know two things. One, Mijares didn’t hit his spot, so he has no place to say Mauer made the wrong call. Two, if he wanted to throw a breaking ball instead of a fastball so badly why didn’t he shake off the sign or call Mauer out to talk about it? Seems like a much more reasonable solution to me. Instead, Mijares comes off looking like a whiner and Gardenhire is wrong for backing him.
