Thursday- .500 May within reach

Some things to read while waiting for snow.

The Milwaukee Brewers picked up another series win last night, as Khris Davis’ three-run home run in the eighth inning blew open an 8-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball has the recap, if you missed it.

The Brewers got a quality start Wednesday night from Yovani Gallardo, who was pitching for the first time since skipping Sunday’s scheduled start with a sprained ankle and winning Tuesday’s game with a walkoff, pinch-hit double. He allowed three runs on six hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and working around a season-high five walks.

The best pitching performance of the night, however, may have come from Will Smith. He entered the game with two outs in the seventh, faced five batters and struck out four of them. Smith’s ERA is down to 0.36 on the season, and he’s now averaging 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings pitched (h/t @MikeVassallo13). 

Other notes from the field:

• The Brewers are 7-2 in interleague play this season after going 6-14 in 2013 (h/t @MikeVassallo13).
• They also have 10 or more hits in eight consecutive games, leaving them one game shy of the franchise record (h/t @joe_block).
• Jonathan Lucroy went 0-for-3 Wednesday to snap his nine-game hitting streak, but did draw a walk and has now reached base safely in 19 consecutive games. That’s tied for the third-longest active streak in baseball.
• Carlos Gomez, however, went 2-for-3 to match Lucroy with a nine-game hitting streak, the longest by a Brewer this season (@MikeVassallo13).
• The Brewers won on Wednesday despite allowing a pair of solo home runs to Orioles outfielder Nelson Cruz. He now leads all of baseball with 19 after hitting three in this series.
• Wednesday’s game was delayed briefly at the end of the second inning due to an equipment malfunction in the replay system. 
• The Hot Dog won the Sausage Race.

The Brewers are off today for the first time in over two weeks, getting a brief rest before opening a three-game home series with the Cubs on Friday. Marco Estrada is scheduled to take on Travis Wood at 7:10 p.m. in the opener, and Matt Slovin has the MLB.com preview. The Brewers are 12-14 in May with two games remaining.

Meanwhile, the top story around baseball yesterday was Major League Baseball’s first announcement of the early results in the 2014 All Star voting. If the current standings hold up, the Brewers’ lone All Star starter would be a familiar face: Ryan Braun is third among outfielders with 446,780 votes. He’s ahead of Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers and Justin Upton of the Braves, among others.

The other surprise in the early results might be that Braun is three spots ahead of teammate Carlos Gomez, who is outhitting him, is a far superior defender and has played in significantly more games. Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk says Gomez is one of the dozen best players in all of baseball.

The current balloting also features an unexpectedly strong showing for Aramis Ramirez at third base. He’s in second and about 35,000 votes behind Nolan Arenado of the Rockies, and both players are ahead of perennial All Star starter David Wright of the Mets. Ramirez will likely rejoin the Brewers early next week, and has changed his mind and will now accept a minor league rehab assignment with Wisconsin on Sunday or Monday.

Further down the ballot, Jonathan Lucroy is fourth among NL catchers and has slightly more than a third of frontrunner Yadier Molina’s total. Mike Oz of Big League Stew listed him as one of five players who should be getting more attention. Jean Segura is also fifth at shortstop, but well over 500,000 votes behind Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies.

Segura had a rough night at the plate Wednesday night, going 0-for-5 with a stirkeout. Before the game, though, Ron Roenicke talked to Adam McCalvy about how his shortstop’s bat has come to life since moving to the leadoff spot.

Wednesday’s least-surprising news may be this: Wei-Chung Wang did not get into the game and has made just one appearance since May 6. Wang pitched a simulated game during the afternoon, with Aramis Ramirez doing most of the hitting.

Of course, a day later, we’re still not done talking about Yovani Gallardo’s clutch hit in the 10th inning to power the Brewers to a walkoff win on Tuesday. Jack Moore of Sports on Earth has more on Gallardo’s unusually long list of accomplishments at the plate.

In the minors:

• The affiliates went 2-2 Wednesday with one of the wins coming from Huntsville, where Brent Suter pitched seven innings and allowed just one run in the Stars’ 2-1 win over Tennessee. Brad Krause of Miller Park Prospects has short recaps of all of yesterday’s action.
• The Stars’ victory was their third consecutive walkoff win (h/t @HuntsvilleStars). Their magic number to clinch a Southern League playoff berth is down to eight.
• The other win came from Nashville, where Taylor Jungmann allowed one run on four hits over six innings. It was his first quality start at the Triple-A level (h/t @JeffHemPBP).
• Marc Hulet of FanGraphs listed Brevard County outfielder Tyrone Taylor and Wisconsin catcher Clint Coulter as two players to watch in the Brewers organization.
• Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Brewers minor league pitching coordinator (and recent interim pitching coach) Rick Tomlin.
• The MLB Draft is a week away, and Craig Goldstein of SB Nation has used the mock drafts of six prominent prognosticators to create a “consensus” draft, with the Brewers selecting Kennesaw State catcher Max Pentecost.
• @Mass_Haas noted that South Carolina high school pitcher Grant Holmes was in Milwaukee on Wednesday to meet with team officials.

Back in Milwaukee, John Steinmiller and Caitlin Moyer have a review of the newest food offering at Miller Park, the “BBDB” (Braun’s Bacon Double Burger) at the A.J. Bombers stand on the first-base side of the Field Level. They gave it four out of five sausages.

If you’d like more Brewers coverage today but you’re sick of reading, I’ll be sitting in the big chair today as guest host of The Home Stretch on 95.3 WSCO in Appleton from 2-4 p.m. I’ll be talking Brewers with Jack Moore of Sports on Earth, All Star balloting with Mike Oz of Big League Stew, SuperBike racing at Elkhart Lake with driver Cameron Beaubier and more. Follow the link above to listen in live or check out the @BrewFrostyMug Twitter feed for links to the archived audio later.

Around baseball:

Dodgers: Placed outfielder Carl Crawford on the DL with an ankle sprain.
Rangers: Claimed reliever Phil Irwin off waivers from the Pirates.
Rays: Placed catcher Ryan Hanigan on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Red Sox: Placed pitcher Clay Buchholz on the DL with a hyperextended knee.

Let’s go around the NL Central:

• The Cardinals dropped a game in the divisional standings with a 7-4 loss to the New York Yankees. New York roughed up starter Shelby Miller, who allowed all seven runs on nine hits over five innings.
• The Reds moved back into third place with a 3-2 win over the Dodgers. Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homer in the first inning to power the offense. 
• The Pirates couldn’t get anything going offensively in a 5-0 loss to the Mets. Bartolo Colon kept Pittsburgh off the board for 7 1/3 innings.
• The Cubs were shut out for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, losing 5-0 to the Giants in San Francisco. Tim Lincecum and five relievers held Chicago to just two hits.

Today in former Brewers: John Stolnis of The Good Phight has a story on reliever Mike Adams, who has bounced back from an injury that limited him to 25 games in 2013 and is contributing to the Phillies in 2014.
 
One of the ongoing stories of this baseball season has been a pretty dramatic increase in the volume of young pitchers with elbow injuries requiring Tommy John surgery, including Marlins ace Jose Fernandez. The issues leading to this epidemic aren’t going to be solved overnight, but the American Sports Medical Institute issued a position statement on Wednesday citing an overemphasis on pitch velocity as one of the primary causes. 

Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:

• 2011 Brewer Jerry Hairston Jr., who turns 38 (Today In Brewer History).
• 2000 Brewer Charlie Hayes, who turns 49.
• 1980 Brewer Fred Holdsworth, who turns 62.
• Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer John Kennedy, who turns 73.

Plunk Everyone notes that Hairston’s 84 career HBP are easily the most ever for a position player born on May 29. Kennedy is third on that list with 25, and Hayes is fourth with 21.

Today is also the 60th anniversary of the Milwaukee Braves drawing more than 40,000 fans to Milwaukee County Stadium for the first time in 1954. Follow the link for that event’s entry in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.

It’s also the 20th anniversary of the first County Stadium Sausage Race, which debuted on the same day as the ceremony to retire Robin Yount’s No. 19 in 1994 (h/t @jaffechris).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to rescuing scooters.

Drink up.

Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorabilia company you can trust.