Brewers' Shane Drohan Reacts to Clutch Outing

The Milwaukee Brewers on Monday opened their series against the Chicago Cubs in convincing fashion with a 9-3 win to bring them one step closer to regaining control of the National League Central Division. In the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy and his staff chose to go with a strategy that worked in their favor in a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. Murphy counted on just two pitchers on Monday: Brandon Sproat as the starter, and Shane Drohan as the lone reliever.

In Saturday’s low-scoring win against the Twins, Murphy counted on Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick to carry the Brewers through to the finish line. Sproat provided 4 ⅔ innings of work and five strikeouts while allowing three hits, three earned runs, and three walks. It was far from perfect for the 25-year-old right-hander, but he did enough early to let Milwaukee mount a comfortable lead.

Then, Drohan took over the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning after Sproat had allowed a single, a home run, and a double. Drohan, however, would not give the Cubs’ batting order the same luxury. In 4 ⅓ shutout innings, Drohan notched five strikeouts of his own while only allowing four hits.

After the game, Drohan talked about his outing and his preparation leading up to it. "I mean, yeah, I kind of always prepare for that," Drohan said. "I'm always more surprised on shorter ones, so just prepare for the most and then if they surprise you with just a quick one, then great.