“You can’t give free passes in the postseason” JETER

“It’s the three walks that killed him there. Like, you can’t give free passes in the postseason,” Derek Jeter said on FOX’s postgame show after Milwaukee’s win over San Diego.

The Brewers won NLDS Game 2, 4–3, on October 4 to take a 2–0 series lead. Mason Miller walked Christian Yelich, Sal Frelick and Gary Sánchez in the ninth before Jackson Chourio’s two-out single scored Yelich and Frelick.

Host Matt Vasgersian asked David Ortiz about Sánchez’s walk. Ortiz reviewed the pinch-hitter’s at-bat and questioned why Miller had not forced him to swing.

“No disrespect to the Kraken, but he’s not swinging the bat at his best like he used to. He’s not playing every day. He playing once in a while. You got 104 in your back pocket.”

Ortiz said Miller lacked his usual fastball command and was turning to sliders. As the panel returned to Sánchez’s plate appearance, Ortiz said: “You had to force the Kraken to swing the bat.”

Alex Rodriguez agreed with Ortiz, but also questioned the Brewers’ takes against Miller’s slider. He noted 22 sliders had produced only three swings and one miss, figures confirmed by MLB’s pitch record. Rodriguez said Sánchez and Andrew Vaughn appeared to have little intention of swinging.

“I’m not sure what’s happening there. So, I’m sure they’re going to go into the video and realize, is Miller tipping? Is he doing something? Because that’s not supposed to match those takes.”

Rodriguez raised tipping as a question, without establishing that Miller was giving away his pitches. Jeter offered another possible explanation for Milwaukee’s approach.

“I think sometimes when you’re facing guys, you eliminate one pitch. Maybe they sat there and said, ‘Look, we’re just going to give him his slider. We’re only swinging at fastballs here.’”

Jeter credited Chourio for coming through in another October moment and said that knowing a fastball was coming would not make Miller easy to hit. His concern remained the three walks before that hit.

When the discussion turned to San Diego’s return home, Jeter kept his focus on the next game.

“You can’t think about coming back and winning three games. You have to think about winning on Tuesday night. That is it.”