MILWAUKEE — As the Rockies and Brewers prepare to square off in Game 2 of the National League division series at Miller Park, even the uber-competitive Carlos Gonzalez can’t help but feel pride and happiness for his longtime friend and the Brewers’ starting pitcher, Jhoulys Chacin.
Chacin was teammates with Gonzalez in Colorado from 2009-14, and both are from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Their families are close. Gonzalez, who has often called Maracaibo “the biggest Rockies town” outside of Colorado, said people there will be glued to their TV sets on Friday.
And as Gonzalez himself is in the midst of a bounce-back season following a 2017 campaign that left doubt about whether the veteran could return to form, the Colorado outfielder noted that Chacin, too, is “showing the young version of Chacin when he was with us, winning almost 15 games (in 2013) and as a rookie, dominating the league.”
“Being designated in spring training (in March 2015), it was hard to see because he’s a good friend of mine,” Gonzalez explained. “But the one advice I told him was, ‘Hey, you can learn from this,’ and he definitely learned from it. He got back to work. He got healthy. He signed another deal, a one-year deal, and then started showing again what he’s capable of doing over the years.”
Chacin has been the Brewers’ best starting pitcher by b-WAR this season at 2.0, going 15-8 with a 3.50 ERA, as he makes his first postseason outing against a team where he said “pretty much all the guys there are all my friends still, and pretty much all the coaches, too.”
The right-hander’s faced Gonzalez nine times, with Gonzalez mustering only one hit in six at-bats along with a couple walks and a strikeout. Gonzalez aims to improve upon those stats Friday, a day he certainly doesn’t send his compadre luck.
“We always wish each other the best,” Gonzalez said with a smile. “But tonight, I’m going to pull for myself more than anything.”
