Mason Miller tipping pitches? Brewers walk off Padres

The moment everyone is rewinding came with Jackson Chourio at the plate, 2 outs, the bases loaded and the Brewers down to their last strike. Watch the hitter and the dugout.

Big Cat

@BarstoolBigCat

Game within the game. Credit to the Brewers for picking up on it. Amazing playoff moment

Steve Johnson@LegKickNationOG

Frelick going to his neck is interesting….

Here is the case. On the broadcast, Miller's throwing hand appeared to sit deeper in his glove when he was about to throw the slider than when he threw the fastball. There is also video of Sal Frelick touching his neck while Chourio was up, right before a 1-2 slider. Chourio didn't swing at it. A couple pitches later he lined a 2-run single and the Brewers had a 4-3 win and a 2-0 lead in the NLDS. If a team is reading a tell off a guy who throws as hard as Miller, the slider is the one pitch it needs to know is coming.

Before anyone yells cheating: this is legal. It isn't a camera in center field or a trash can in the tunnel. Players picking up a pitcher's tell with their own eyes and passing it along on the field has been part of baseball forever. If you're tipping and you don't fix it, that's on you. Hubbs made the same point and also said the tipping wasn't the whole story. The inning was set up before Chourio ever got to the plate.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

This goes to show you how important that Yelich stealing 2nd was in the 9th. Miller's command was off and the more pitches he threw the less effective he got, but him possibly tipping pitches is extra cruel for SD. No wrong doing by Milwaukee, that's part of the game.

Sillyam Contreras Enjoyer@Turang_FC

Mason Miller was absolutely tipping his breaking ball in the Padres' NLDS Game 2 loss to Milwaukee:

That's how it went. Miller walked Christian Yelich, Yelich stole second, and then Miller walked Frelick and pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez to load the bases with 2 outs. That's 3 walks from San Diego's closer in the biggest inning of the series. Miller was also out there for a 2nd inning, and Padres manager Craig Stammen pointed at that more than anything else. On Wake Up Barstool Monday morning, the walks were what people wanted to talk about.

Wake Up Barstool

@wakeupbarstool

“Mason Miller just can't walk Gary Sanchez in the ninth inning. He walked three guys.”

0:29

Miller doesn't think he was tipping. He did say he wasn't sure about that one slider: "That just seemed like a really confident take." Mostly he blamed his own command. "If you execute pitches, you're still going to get guys out," he said. Stammen neither confirmed nor denied it. "We've got a lot of guys on top of it, and we're not really worried about it," he said, and he also said the 2-inning workload is something they may have to adjust. That answer is right on both counts. Walking 3 guys would have been a problem with or without a tell. A tell just made it a lot worse.

Barstool Baseball

@StoolBaseball

Evidence Shows Mason Miller Might Have Been Tipping Pitches In The 9th Inning Yesterday, And Rightfully So The Brewers Took Advantage To Win The Game @BarstoolHubbs

The series goes to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday, and the Padres are down 0-2 and facing elimination. Every Brewers hitter will be watching Miller's glove now, and San Diego has had an off day to look at the same film everyone else saw. If Miller comes out in a save spot and his hands look different, we'll know the Padres fixed it. If they don't look different, Milwaukee will probably be waiting on the slider again.