Brewers’ Devin Williams on failed save – ‘No one feels worse’

MILWAUKEE – The moment was exactly as the Milwaukee Brewers planned. But just like in Hollywood, sometimes a well-crafted script doesn’t always lead to a satisfying ending.

At least not for the Brewers and certainly not for the star of this script, closer Devin Williams, who gave up a season-winning three-run home run to Mets slugger Pete Alonso with one out in the ninth to give them a 2-0 lead Milwaukee fell into a 2-3 deficit. New York won 4-2 on Thursday to win the deciding game of the three-game NL Wild Card Series.

So ended an exciting season for one of baseball’s most exciting and tight-knit young teams. Afterwards, true to form, Williams went before the media and took the blame.

“This is the closest team I’ve ever played on,” Williams said. “That makes it even more disappointing. Everyone except me did their job. I feel like I let everyone down.”

The setup was perfect. With the Brewers up by two, ninth inning, their star approaches the ball. Williams converted 14 of 15 save chances after returning from injury during the season. He flawlessly completed Milwaukee’s Game 2 win just 24 hours earlier. The entire ballpark was prepared for an eruption.

“It was a great script for us,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Devin was as good a closer as he was in baseball in the two and a half years he played.”

Sure, a certain nervous energy crept into the ballpark when Francisco Lindor drew a walk and just held back with a swing on ball four. Then Brandon Nimmo hit a screaming single to right.

And of course Alonso stomped to the plate, squeezing the handle of his racket so hard it would have left a trail of sawdust behind him. And of course Williams fell behind 3-1. But this was still Devin Williams, and Alonso, dangerous as he is, hadn’t scored in over two weeks. And Williams? He only allowed one home run all season.

“He’s the best closer in the game,” Brewers starter Tobias Myers said after throwing the most memorable game of his young career, shutting out the Mets for five innings. “It’s just a crazy game we play, it can happen like that. But no one loses trust in this guy. He’s one of the best, and for good reason.”

Williams said the pitch, one of his signature shifts, on the outside of the plate, wasn’t that bad. Only the results were.

“It could have been better, but it wasn’t the worst pitch I’ve ever thrown,” Williams said. “I wanted to get away with it. I did it. It was a good performance.”

As American Family Field fell into a sort of humming silence that seemed almost awe-inspiring, demons of last October raced around the rafters of the shuttered ballpark. As close as the Brewers were to a final breakthrough, the result was the same – five straight series losses over the past six years, all after the Brewers fell one win shy of the 2018 World Series.

It happened again.

“You can look at the history if you want,” Murphy said. “But I think the best part of the story, if you want to cover the story, is that the Brewers were in the playoffs six out of seven years on one of the smallest budgets and in one of the smallest markets in baseball.”

In the hallway outside both clubhouses, the post-game scenes were as different as one could imagine. Family and friends of the Brewers consoled each other. Around the corner, just out of sight, loud cheering and shouting could be heard from the side of the Mets facility. It was a clear portrait of playoff baseball right off the field.

In the Brewers’ clubhouse, the team’s bond was evident as players and coaches repeatedly circled each other, hugging, clapping their hands and whispering words of encouragement to one another. And of course, no one would let Williams carry the burden alone.

Upon learning of Williams’ comments, outfielder Sal Frelick said, “Devin is very professional, so of course he’ll tell you that.” But we all know it’s not just him out there.”

“(We had) a lot of opportunities at the start of the game. We left a lot of guys in scoring position. Obviously we went into the ninth with a two-run lead and everyone did their job to the best of their ability. That’s a team loss there.”

Frelick, who hit a home run twice during the season, hit a dramatic one-pitch shot in the seventh after pinch-hitter Jake Bauers launched a charge into the crowd with a shot to right. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to celebrate such triumphs when a must-win game fails.

“This is definitely on par with the birth of my child,” Bauers said. “It’s hard, man. It’s hard to be excited about it right now.”

The home runs gave the Brewers the cushion they had until the ninth. The two-run lead was far from insurmountable, especially for a Mets team that has shown a flair for dramatic moments. But the Brewers had Williams.

The script was perfect up to this point.

“Just big disappointment,” Williams said. “We have worked all year to get to this point. They gave me a two-run lead there in the ninth.