The "Big Inning"

This blog post is dedicated to a specific part of the offensive side of baseball and one that helped the Brewers greatly tonight. The "Big Inning" is something that teams want every night and when a team gets a it they can either secure the game, blow a game open, or take the lead and give a team momentum. Tonight the Brewers used the "Big Inning" to take the lead and used their pitching and defense to hold onto the win. The "Big Inning" usually contains three parts to it. Those parts are as follows:

1. The Start - The start to the "Big Inning" is just what the name implies. It can be two singles, a single and a stolen base, a double with a walk, etc. Basically its any form of consecutive batters of offense that gets a rally going.

2. The Turning Point - This is the part where the possible rally inning gives signs of the "Big Inning." This usually means bases loaded with no outs with a big hitter coming up, usually someone in the top part of your order. Its at this point that any hit will score multiple runs and still leave you with room for more.

3. The Big Blow - The final aspect to the "Big Inning" is the big blow. This is the hit that drives in runs and will ultimately end the "Big Inning" but will be what you need to pur that five or six spot in the score column for the inning. 

The Brewers used every aspect described above during their five-run inning.

The Brewers entered the bottom of the fifth down 2-0 and Carpenter was shutting down the Brewers offense but that was all about to change. The inning began with Betancourt getting a single up the middle, followed by McGehee getting a single of his own. Then Lucroy gets a rbi single with a ball that bounces over Freese and just like that the Brewers have a start to the "Big Inning." Next came the turning point.

With runners at first and third and Zack Greinke at the plate you were expecting a bunt, possibly a safety squeeze but what happened was even better. It was a bunt by Greinke, and a good one at that. The ball rolled up the third base side and both the catcher, Yadier Molina and third baseman Freese were charing the ball. There was some indecision between the two and by the time Molina picked up the ball there was not enough time to throw out Greinke going to first. So the Brewers had bases loaded, no outs and the top of the lineup coming up. This is a perfect example of a turning point for a "Big Inning."

Corey Hart hit a single to center field to score one run making the score 2-2, bases loaded and still no outs in the inning. Then came the big blow and it came from Nyjer Morgan. Morgan ripped a hanging curveball that was a deep fly ball that kept slicing away from center fielder John Jay and landed on the warning track, scoring two runs with ease and because of Hart's speed he was able to score from first. And just like that the Brewers had a 5-2 lead. A lead they would hold on to, add an insurance run and eventually secure the win, final score 6-2.

So that was a breakdown of the Brewers use of the "Big Inning" tonight against the Cardinals. Not only did the win put them on the right track to start the month of August but it also increased their lead in the central to 3.5 games. Hopefully the Brewers have more "Big Innings" this season and if all goes well we could be having some "Big Innings" in the postseason.