Walk Yuni and Lose

Written by Jaymes Langrehr on .

With his intentional walk Wednesday night in San Diego, Yuniesky Betancourt now has six (6!) walks this season in 156 plate appearances. When Bud Black called for the free pass, I -- along with just about everyone else on Twitter, it seems -- wondered why he would take the bat out of the Out Machine's hands.

As it has turned out this year, not only is walking Yuni a bad play against the percentages, but it basically guarantees you will lose the game:

5/18 @ San Diego - Intentional Walk - MIL 5 SDP 2
4/29 @ Houston - 2 Walks - MIL 5 HOU 0
4/23 vs Houston - Walk - HOU 9 MIL 6 (10)
4/10 vs Chicago - Walk - MIL 6 CHC 5
4/7 vs Atlanta - Intentional Walk - MIL 4 ATL 2

Small sample sizes be damned, the Brewers are 4-1 when Yuni draws a walk. The only loss was Sean Green's extra innings collapse against Houston.

There is no other possible explanation. If you walk Yuni, you lose.