Today the Milwaukee Brewers took game one from the New York Mets in their three-game series. The opening day game was pushed back from the original Opening day date due to weather, but the wait was worth it for Brewers fans. Heading into the season many wondered how the team would fare without the team’s ace Corbin Burnes and how the young kids would perform. It may have been only one game and it might have been against the Mets who don’t have a great pitching staff on paper, but the 3-1 victory provided hope to the Brew Crew faithful.
RHP – Freddy Peralta
Freddy Peralta came into today’s game as the new ace of the staff and he pitched like an ace today. He went six strong innings, he struck out eight Mets, walked one, and surrendered one hit which was a home run to Sterling Marte. Today in all Freddy generated 13 swings and misses en route to his eight strikeouts. His four-seam fastball topped out today at 95.1 mph and he did a good job mixing in his change-up while using his curveball and Slider to keep the hitters off balance all game. It’s only been one game, but Peralta seems prepared to step into that ace role for the Brewer. A 200-strikeout season is very likely for the right-hander if he can remain healthy.
Who fills Williams Role?
The Brewers star closer Devon Williams is set to miss two months as he recovers from back problems, which led to folks wondering who would be closing games out this year for the Brewers. Well, today they rolled out Trevor Megill in the seventh inning where he didn’t allow a hit and walked one batter earning him a hold. In the eighth inning, Joel Payamps came into the game he didn’t allow a hit and struck out two in a clean inning of work earning a hold. The save opportunity was given to Abner Uribe who pitched a clean ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. Like we said for Peralta it’s been one game and it was against the Mets, but the backend of this bullpen looked great today. If they can keep this up for the early part of the season the bullpen will be a huge advantage for the Brewers once Williams returns.
Rookie and Veteran Mix
The offense for the Brewers today was compliments of Jackson Chourio, William Contreras, and Christain Yelich each having an RBI on the day. Contreras and Chourio both had sacrificed to get their first RBI of the year, Contreras with a sac fly and Chourio on a fielder choice. Yelich lined a home run to right-center off Jose Quintana in the fourth inning tying the game at the time. The 32-year-old veteran pulling the home run was a welcome sign, considering last year he hit only a handful of home runs to the pull side. Chourio ended the day with one hit, one walk, and a stolen base. Contreras was hitless with two strikeouts. Yelich on the other hand came out of the gates red hot going three for four with his home run.
Wrap Up
Getting the first win out of the way is always nice, but the way they did it with a combined one-hitter from the pitching staff was impressive. Seeing Jackson Chourio get on base twice and use his speed to collect his first bag of the year was nice to see as well. The best though is seeing Yelich go three for four with a pulled line drive home run. This Brewers team should be fun to watch all year, but if the pitching staff from starters to the back end of the bullpen can perform like today this team is in good shape to compete in the NL Central this year to attempt to repeat as division champs. Game Two is tomorrow when DL Hall and Luis Severino battle on Saturday at 1:40 PM.
