Devin Williams' eye-popping debut leads the takeaways from Brewers' 6-2 win over the Marlins

On the field and in the clubhouse, Sunday served as a much-needed shot in the arm for the Milwaukee Brewers.

With a 6-2 win , the Brewers woke up from a two-day malady against the cellar-dwelling Miami Marlins.

And before that took place, they received a pair of critical reinforcements to the active roster.

Put it all together and you’ve got a good day at the park for the Brewers, who still may even receive more additions to bolster the roster in coming days leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Devin Williams returns (and is throwing gas)

The Airbender is back. So, too, is the fastball.

In Devin Williams’ season debut, a scoreless ninth inning with a walk and infield hit allowed, it wasn’t his vaunted changeup that drew eyeballs but rather a rejuvenated heater.

Williams averaged 96.0 mph with the four-seamer, which is up two ticks from where it was on average in 2023. A 97.8 mph fastball to Xavier Edwards was Williams’ firmest pitch since 2021, a stretch during which the right-hander didn’t even touch 97 mph once.

Williams sure seems refreshed coming off back surgery and rehab.

“To be honest with you, I don’t feel like even (I'm) trying that hard and it’s just coming out right now,” Williams said.

Sunday's outing was months in the making for Williams, who underwent surgery midway through spring training and spent every day since champing at the bit to take the American Family Field mound to his entrance music.

“That was awesome," Williams said. "It definitely fired me up, gave me a little extra juice today. Yeah. That was everything you thought it would be.”

Nick Mears ready to join Brewers’ bullpen

In the mix, too, now is Nick Mears, whose pure stuff far outweighs his results this year in Colorado and who believes he just recently discovered part of what was ailing him as he struggled early in the season.

“I would say I’ve definitely had a few implosion innings, but it also doesn’t help that I was tipping pitches for a month and a half and I was never told,” Mears said. “Hitting is hard, no matter how you put it, but I think it’s a little easier when you have an idea of if it’s a fastball or an offspeed pitch.”

Mears, who owned a 5.56 ERA in 41 games with the Rockies but throws in the upper 90s with his fastball and features a high swing-and-miss slider that also generates weak contact, didn’t know he was tipping pitches until recently.

“Pre all-star break,”Mears said. “Then I made an adjustment when I was coming set. A player actually told one of my buddies on the Rockies and he came up to me, like, ‘Hey, this is what you’re doing. You should probably change it.’”

Mears has suffered from two “implosion innings” as he called them in which he allowed 10 runs and got three outs. Take those outings away and he’s sitting with a 3.65 ERA.

Pair Mears’ upside with Williams’ return and it’s not difficult to feel the optimism about the bullpen moving toward.

“It's gratifying, I guess you would say,” Williams said. “I put in a lot of hard work up to this point over the past couple of months. To be in this position and back on the field, it feels great.”

Brice Turang turns the tides

It’s been a rough go of it at the plate of late for Brice Turang. His defense, though, hasn’t slumped.

Ultimately, it was a relatively comfortable win for the Brewers on Sunday, but don’t let that diminish the impact Turang’s glove had on the game.

With the bases loaded in the third, Turang singlehandedly stymied a Marlins rally with a pair of full-extension diving snags, one to his left and the other to his right.

“I think he saved four runs in two pitches,” pitcher Tobias Myers said. “That's Gold Glove stuff right there.”

Williams went even a step further advocating for Turang, who leads the league in Defensive Runs Saved.

“I’ve been watching it all year. He’s the best defensive second baseman in the league by far,” Williams said. “It’s time we recognize that.”

Of the two plays – which were nearly identical but hit in opposite directions – Turang said the second was the tougher play. A 96 mph rocket off the bat of Otto Lopez, Turang had to react quickly and use all of his six-foot frame to keep the ball out of center field and preserve a 2-1 lead.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever dove back to back plays,” Turang said. “Maybe I have and didn’t make them. But it was cool.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Devin Williams' eye-popping debut leads the takeaways from Brewers' 6-2 win over the Marlins