The Brewers’ 5-0 loss to the Yankees to complete a sweep was hard enough to watch as it was, but it could have been a whole lot worse. After throwing 36 pitches in the first inning, Randy Wolf rebounded to go 7 innings against New York — something that really needed to be done after Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum were only able to go 7 combined innings in the series’ first two games.
Wolf surrendered three walks during his outing, all in the first inning. After the game, Wolf said he struggled to find his release point in the first inning:
“It was frustrating to me because early in the game my arm slot was in the wrong position,” said Wolf (6-5), who threw 36 pitches in the first inning. “By the time I found my arm slot again, it was already too late. I don’t know how much different the results would have been.
“I’m glad I found it. It would have been really frustrating if I didn’t. It took me too long to get back to where the ball had good rotation and throwing it where I wanted to.”
The plot of his release points would agree. Compare that to his release points against the Boston Red Sox on June 18th, a similarily tough opponent that he was able to shut down.
Against Boston, Wolf’s release points were quite a bit lower, but they were also much more consistent. Against the Yankees, not only were the release points higher — probably explaining why he missed high so often, especially in the first inning — but the cluster is much less defined. He was definitely struggling to find a consistent point, but once he did, he pitched much like the Randy Wolf we’ve come to know this year.
If he hadn’t been able to settle in, who knows how ugly the series finale against the Yankees could’ve been. Mark Kotsay has said he wants the chance to pitch. He probably would’ve gotten the chance, given the current state of the bullpen.
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