Today In Brewer History: Sheets' Last Stand

On this day in 2008 the Cubs beat the Brewers 7-3 at Miller Park, dampening the Crew's playoff hopes. The game was over early when Ben Sheets allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits while pitching just 2.1 innings in what would turn out to be his final Brewer start.

Sheets was a workhorse early in his Brewer career, pitching 216 or more innings in 2002, 2003 and 2004, but injuries slowed him after that and the 2008 season was the first time in four years he had made more than 24 starts. He posted a 3.72 career ERA and set a Brewer franchise record with 1206 strikeouts over 1428 innings, but was unavailable for the only Brewer playoff run in his eight years in Milwaukee.

Sheets went on to miss the entire 2009 season due to injury before returning to the majors in 2010 with the A's. He also made eight starts earlier this season for the Braves.

With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:

• 1976 Brewer Gary Sutherland, who turns 68.
• Bagley, Wisconsin native and UW-Madison alum Thornton Kipper, who would have turned 84. Kipper played three major league seasons between 1953-55 as a member of the Phillies.

Today is also the anniversary of the longest pitching outing in Brewer franchise history, as Jim Colborn worked 13 scoreless innings in the Brewers' 1-0, 17 inning loss to the Orioles in 1974. We covered that event in this space last year.