Pitch and catch.

That’s baseball, in perhaps the basest of terms. It’s rarely that easy, but it happens. No hitters. Perfect games. Pitcher’s duels that last around two hours.

For much of this season, such simplicity has eluded the Milwaukee Brewers. The starting rotation has been decimated by injury and plagued by ineffectiveness. Ten different players have started at least one game and through Tuesday night’s game against San Diego, no starter has a winning record.

But since July 1, there has been something different about the starting rotation. Heading into Friday night's game, the team has a 10-10 record in July – not mind blowing, but an improvement – and perhaps it is not a coincidence that the length of games has been shortening. That pace is set by the starting pitcher, and most will tell you that the quicker a starting pitcher works, the better the result.

"I like to work quick, try to keep my defense where they’re not just getting tired out there and just waiting around," said Brewers pitcher Tyler Thornburg, who has started and relieved in his time with the Brewers the last two seasons.

"I like to get in, get out quick and get the innings up and down. But some guys are slow and methodical. I feel like they want to take as much time as possible between each pitch, but for me I like to get it going, get the game going."

"I feel like when you find that right pace, you just go better. I feel like if you’re that guy that wants to work quick and you love working quick, I feel like the innings go a lot easier."

But what is that pace exactly?

"Pace is the time you take in between pitches," catcher Jonathan Lucroy said. "If you can keep that pace quick, it keeps the hitters off balance. I know, personally, I hate a pitcher that works quick – those guys bother you a little bit as a hitter. Anytime you’ve got a pitcher that works fast and throws strikes. … You watch a guy like Kyle Lohse, his pace is awesome."

Lucroy then snapped his fingers rapidly in rhythm.

"A guy that does that is going to be successful," he continued. "The slower they are, the more time they take, the more time it gives the hitter to become comfortable."

The Brewers entered Friday's game 17 games under .500 for a reason, but the team is more competitive when the game time is under three hours (2-23). The Brewers are 15-25 with game times between 3 hours and 3:29; 6-6 in games that run between 3:30 and 3:59 and 0-4 if the game stretches four hours or more.

"I think pace becomes an issue with a lot of guys when things aren’t going well and you walk around the mound and you’re over-thinking," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said.

If it seems like the pace has picked up lately though, it’s because it has. Of the Brewers’ 45 games played in less than three hours, 10 of them have come in July (22.2 percent) with nine coming in just the last 14 games. Of the 59 games the Brewers have played in 3:05 or less, 14 have come in July (23.7 percent).

Of those 14 relatively quick games this month, Lohse has started three of them.

"You watch any successful pitcher they don’t take a lot of time between pitches, the majority of ‘em," Lucroy said. "Kyle Lohse is a good example for the younger guys to be able to follow. He’s been successful. He’s won championships. He knows what it takes. A good guy to follow."

Added Roenicke: "Kyle throws the ball, he gets on the mound and he's ready to go again. The defense is going to play better behind him. he throws strikes. Everything positive happens when you work that way."

Major League Baseball’s rules state that a pitcher cannot take more than 12 seconds between pitches, but it’s rarely enforced – especially in situations where men have reached or late in games.

"Usually, starting, you have your game plan going in and you kind of set it, so you’re just boom, boom, boom and you run your game plan until something happens to change your game plan," Hand said.

"Then you might take a step back. So you have different times. It’s going at a constant pace and then something happens and you slow down a little bit, but you’re trying to get back to that constant pace. In the bullpen – like the other night in Arizona (on July 13) when I came in with the bases loaded – it’s a more high pressure situation and you’re trying to make the pitch every time so it kind of slows down then. But, then a fresh inning and the pace goes right back up and here we go.

"I’m not giving them time to think to know what’s coming so to speak. You feel like you’re attacking them more often."