MINNEAPOLIS -- As the Brewers players and staff dug into fried chicken inside the visitors' clubhouse Saturday afternoon at Target Field, Wiz Khalifa's "We Dem Boyz" blared over the stereo, so loud it had to be turned down when reporters entered the premises.
Over in the home dressing room, postgame dance parties -- Torii Hunter-provided laser lights and smoke machines included -- have become commonplace. But for Milwaukee, cause for festivity hasn't come around much this season.
"We're better than we've played," outfielder Ryan Braun said. "The goal is to get back to playing consistently competitive baseball, and when we do that, we can beat anybody."
They've done it the past two days, including a 4-2 win Saturday that locks up just the Brewers' fourth series win all season. With injured players like catcher Jonathan Lucroy back in the fold and slumping stars starting to brighten up again, Milwaukee (still a major league-worst 20-36) has figured some things out in twice besting its interleague rival, the current American League Central leader.
Just like starting pitcher Matt Garza, who built off a strong relief appearance in last Sunday's 17-inning marathon win against Arizona with a seven-inning, six-hit, one-earned run performance Saturday.
"It came back to me," said the veteran right-hander, who came in with a career-worst fielding independent pitching rating of 5.24 and a 5.52 ERA, the second-worst in his nine-plus MLB seasons.
After five earned runs on eight hits May 26 against San Francisco, Garza came to the realization he was pitching with far too much self-applied pressure and far too little personal enjoyment. He pitched five scoreless innings in relief last Sunday, then tied his longest appearance of the season Saturday by throwing 81 strikes on 106 pitches, avoiding a walk and working his way out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out conundrum in the fifth inning.
"It was getting harder and harder to not only look at myself, but to sleep at night," Garza said of his early-season letdowns. "I said, 'You can't do this game without having fun and being who you are,' and I was definitely not having any fun.
"It was like every inning, every at-bat, every pitch was a grind. That's not how I am. Yeah, you get your tough spots, but not every pitch, and my stuff's too good, still, to not grind it out like that. Today was a real positive step."
The same could be said for Garza's fellow former Twin Carlos Gomez, who went 4 for 4 with a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth and an RBI double in the ninth. That more than made up for a base-running blunder in the third, when Gomez reached on a bunt single but was thrown out after rounding second on Lucroy's single./p>
That's Gomez -- maddening and thrilling, all at the same time./p>
"I think on the bases, he's looking to do all of us a favor and speed the game up a little bit, which we all appreciate," joked Braun./p>
Said Gomez, who has hit safely in nine straight games: "I'm good enough to not make that kind of mistake. We lucky today, because we supposed to make more runs."/p>
Braun's return from a two-game absence for cryotherapy on his right thumb helped. Starting in right field, he rocked a four-seam fastball from Twins (32-23) bullpen starter J.R. Graham into the batter's eye for his 13th home run of the season./p>
Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 358th career save, which tied him with mentor Troy Percival for ninth all-time on the major league saves list./p>
Back-to-back games do not a turnaround make, especially for a team that'll be fighting a giant hole the rest of the campaign. Manager Craig Counsell illustrated that point when discussing Garza, praising his effective day but cautioning against any big-picture assumptions./p>
"Today, he pitched his game," Counsell said. "That's what's important. Is he back? He's got to pitch in five days."/p>
Said Gomez: "We have a lot of games left to play."
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