Brewers beat Marlins, activate closer Devin Williams

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Devin Williams #38 of the Milwaukee Brewers reacts after the third out in the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at American Family Field on July 28, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE - Devin Williams is back to boost the Milwaukee Brewers' tiring bullpen.

The two-time All-Star closer made his 2024 debut Sunday and pitched a scoreless inning in a 6-2 victory over the Miami Marlins. Williams was reinstated earlier in the day after missing the first four months of the season with stress fractures in his back.

"It’s like riding a bike," Williams said after the game. "I’ve done it a million times. Got right back on there."

In other moves, the Brewers designated right-hander Janson Junk for assignment and sent right-hander JB Bukauskas to Triple-A Nashville on a rehabilitation assignment.

Williams is coming off a 2023 season in which he went 8-3 with a 1.53 ERA and 36 saves to earn his second NL reliever of the year award. His return comes at an ideal time as he boosts a bullpen that has endured a major workload and lost Bryan Hudson and Rob Zastryzny to the injured list the last few days.

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The NL Central-leading Brewers entered Sunday having received an MLB-low 493 1/3 innings from their starting pitchers.

After pitching four scoreless innings in a rehabilitation assignment, Williams came out Sunday to a standing ovation as he worked the ninth inning.

"That was awesome," Williams said. "It definitely fired me up, gave me a little extra juice today."

Williams reached a top velocity of nearly 98 mph while working around some trouble in the ninth.

After retiring Nick Gordon and striking out Forrest Wall, Williams gave up an infield single to Xavier Edwards, enabling the rookie to hit for the cycle. Williams then walked Bryan De La Cruz before ending the game by getting Josh Bell to ground out.

He ended up throwing 24 pitches, including 13 strikes.

"He’ll tell you he wasn't completely sharp or anything like that, but to get back out there, I felt great about it," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

When he's on his game, Williams can be as dominant as any reliever in baseball. He struck out 87 batters in just 58 2/3 innings last season.

In his rehabilitation assignment with Nashville and Single-A Wisconsin, the 29-year-old right-hander struck out six, walked two and allowed only one hit.

"To be honest, I was more focused on how I felt than results, but both were really good," Williams said before Sunday's game. "I felt good. My stuff was moving the way it's supposed to. I was executing pitches. So it was all good."

Even without Williams, Milwaukee entered Sunday with a 3.33 bullpen ERA that ranked third in the majors, behind only Cleveland and Atlanta. That relief corps has played a major role in helping the Brewers lead the NL Central as they attempt to defend their division title.

"I think the hard part was just having to watch some of the games and not be able to have any effect at all," Williams said before the game. "I haven’t really had to do that since I’ve come up. But we got through it and we’re here now. These guys picked up the weight and they’ve done a great job of filling in. It’s been amazing to watch."

But the Brewers' relievers have shown signs of wear lately. The Brewers squandered a 3-2 lead when their bullpen allowed five runs in the seventh inning of a 7-3 loss to the Marlins on Saturday.

The Brewers did add some depth to its relief corps Saturday by acquiring Nick Mears from the Colorado Rockies. Mears went 1-4 with a 5.56 ERA in 41 games with Colorado, but the 27-year-old right-hander believes he's found a reason behind some of his earlier struggles.

Mears said he recently learned he'd been tipping pitches for about 1 1/2 months.

"A player actually told one of my buddies on the Rockies, and he came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, this is what you're doing. You should probably change it.'"

Mears said he learned about it just before the All-Star break and made an adjustment. He has posted a 1.80 ERA while holding opponents to a .160 batting average over his last 12 appearances.

"Hitting is hard, no matter how you put it," Mears said. "But I think it’s a little easier when you have an idea of if it’s a fastball or an off-speed pitch."