Walk Yuni and Lose

With his intentional walk Wednesday night in San Diego, Yuniesky Betancourt now has six (6!) walks this season in 156 plate appearances. When Bud Black called for the free pass, I — along with just about everyone else on Twitter, it seems — wondered why he would take the bat out of the Out Machine’s hands.

As it has turned out this year, not only is walking Yuni a bad play against the percentages, but it basically guarantees you will lose the game:

5/18 @ San Diego – Intentional Walk – MIL 5 SDP 2
4/29 @ Houston – 2 Walks – MIL 5 HOU 0
4/23 vs Houston – Walk – HOU 9 MIL 6 (10)
4/10 vs Chicago – Walk – MIL 6 CHC 5
4/7 vs Atlanta – Intentional Walk – MIL 4 ATL 2

Small sample sizes be damned, the Brewers are 4-1 when Yuni draws a walk. The only loss was Sean Green‘s extra innings collapse against Houston.

There is no other possible explanation. If you walk Yuni, you lose.