Some things to read while waiting it out.
The Milwaukee Brewers fell behind early and never came back on Tuesday, as the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day with a 4-1 victory at the Rogers Centre. Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball has the recap, if you missed it.
Adding injury to insult, Khris Davis left Tuesday’s game in the seventh inning with what the team is calling a left shoulder strain, although Davis was complaining of pain in his pectoral muscle. He suffered the injury diving into second base while escaping a rundown. He’s day-to-day at this point, but it would be surprising to see him back in the lineup today.
Davis’ fifth-inning infield single was the Brewers’ first hit against Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison, who worked seven innings and held the Brewers to a single run while recording 10 strikeouts. He’s the fourth pitcher to strike out 10 Brewers in a game this season and the first since Edwin Jackson did it on May 17.
Other notes from the field:
- Marco Estrada started Tuesday’s game and pitched a quality start, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings. He also allowed a pair of home runs, though, and continues to lead all of baseball with 26. No other pitcher has more than 17.
- Jonathan Lucroy went 0-for-3 but drew a walk to extend his streak to 46 consecutive starts reaching base safely. He could tie Scott Podsednik’s franchise record of 47 if he extends the streak for one more game. He’s also reached base safely in 26 consecutive road games, and is the first Brewer to do that since Ryan Braun had a 32-game streak between the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Peralta went 5-0 in his five starts in the month of June, despite posting a somewhat pedestrian 4.22 ERA over 32 innings. Ben Tannenbaum of The Brewers Bar has a look at the Brewers’ recent success in Peralta’s starts.
Peralta’s continued development has really improved the consistency of a starting rotation that hasn’t been all that reliable in recent years. David S. Grant of Reviewing the Brew has a comparison between this starting staff and their counterparts from the 1982 team.
Scooter Gennett started, had a hit and scored a run before being lifted to allow Rickie Weeks to pinch hit late in the game on Tuesday. Gennett’s recent hot streak has caused some fans to question the Brewers’ decision to continue to keep him away from lefty pitching, but Derek Harvey of Brew Crew Ball says “platoon” is not a dirty word. Matt Snyder of CBS Sports says the platoon has been outstanding.
Gennett almost exclusively batted against right-handed pitching in June, and Bill Chuck of Gammons Daily notes that his .397 batting average for the month was the second-best in all of baseball. Elsewhere in June stats, Chuck notes that Carlos Gomez tied for the MLB lead with 13 hits with runners in scoring position and Francisco Rodriguez tied for the lead with 10 saves.
Weeks and Gennett are both long shots to make the National League All-Star team, but a few more Brewers have an opportunity to win a spot on the roster. If the voting ended today Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Gomez would start the game, and Ryan Braun (fifth among outfielders), Khris Davis (seventh among outfielders), Jonathan Lucroy, Mark Reynolds and Jean Segura (second at catcher, first base and shortstop, respectively) are all also relevant in the discussion. Online voting at MLB.com closes on Thursday.
Looking further ahead, the Brewers still have over four weeks before the non-waiver trade deadline, but Doug Melvin downplayed the possibility of a move on Tuesday. He told Adam McCalvy that the Brewers “like our ballclub” as long as everyone remains healthy.
Yesterday I linked to a Deadspin report looking at 10 months of leaked trade proposal data from the Astros. What would it look like if something similar happened to the Brewers? Tim Young of Brewer Rat has a (satirical) look at the possibility.
If the Brewers remain relevant down the stretch, odds are Ron Roenicke will get some credit for turning around a team that went 74-88 a year ago. Beisbol’s Blog listed Roenicke as the winner of their midseason NL Manager of the Year Award.
Of course, Roenicke isn’t the only Brewer worthy of award consideration. TBS analyst Ron Darling said Jonathan Lucroy should be the NL MVP, and Michael Baumann of Grantland has more on Lucroy’s breakout season.
In the minors:
- The U.S.-based affiliates went 4-2 on Tuesday, with the game of the night coming from Wisconsin, where pitchers Zach Quintana and Tristan Archer each worked six scoreless innings in a 1-0, 12-inning win over Cedar Rapids. Brad Krause has short recaps of all of the day’s action in today’s edition of Around the Horn at Miller Park Prospects.
- Chris Mehring of Rattler Radio has highlights and photos from the win.
- Brevard County also picked up a shutout win Tuesday, 3-0 over Daytona, and with a 9-3 record in the second half, they’re alone in first place in the Florida State League North Division.
- Nashville broadcaster Jeff Hem has an interview with Sounds infielder Pete Orr.
- Jay D of Reviewing the Brew has a recap of Brevard County shortstop Orlando Arcia’s season to date.
Closer to home, if you’ve always wanted to work in baseball and you have some skills in software development, today may be your lucky day. The Brewers are hiring for a baseball systems developer and baseball systems architect, although I’m not tech-savvy enough to know how those positions differ.
Around baseball:
Angels: Acquired pitcher Rich Hill from the Red Sox for cash.
Astros: Placed outfielder Dexter Fowler on the DL with an intercostal strain.
Orioles: Designated outfielder Nolan Reimold for assignment.
Rangers: Designated pitcher Joe Saunders for assignment.
Rays: Placed shortstop Yunel Escobar on the DL with a sore shoulder.
Red Sox: Released pitcher Chris Capuano.
Let’s go around the NL Central:
- The Cardinals couldn’t put together any offense against Tim Lincecum and the Giants, losing 5-0 in San Francisco. Lincecum pitched eight shutout innings for the victory and is riding a streak of 17 consecutive scoreless frames.
- The Reds have lost their first two games in San Diego after an 8-2 defeat on Tuesday. Cincinnati catcher Devin Mesoraco hit his 15th home run in the loss.
- The Pirates scored three in the bottom of the ninth to clinch a 3-2 walkoff win over the Diamondbacks. Ike Davis’ RBI-single drove home the winning run.
- The Cubs scored a run in the top of the ninth to beat the Red Sox 2-1. Edwin Jackson and four relievers combined to hold Boston to a single run.
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Brewers | 51 | 34 | — | @ Blue Jays, 11:37 a.m. | Wily Peralta vs J.A. Happ |
| Cardinals | 44 | 40 | 6.5 | @ Giants, 9:15 p.m. | Adam Wainwright vs Ryan Vogelsong |
| Reds | 43 | 40 | 7 | @ Padres, 2:40 p.m. | Johnny Cueto vs Tyson Ross |
| Pirates | 43 | 40 | 7 | vs Diamondbacks, 6:05 p.m. | Charlie Morton vs Chase Anderson |
| Cubs | 36 | 46 | 13.5 | @ Red Sox, 6:10 p.m. | Travis Wood vs Brandon Workman |
Meanwhile, the strangest pitching performance of the day Tuesday came from Detroit, where Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello pitched a complete-game shutout without allowing a walk or recording a strikeout. He’s the first pitcher to do that since Jeff Ballard of the Orioles did it to the Brewers in August of 1989.
We also had a bizarre individual moment in Los Angeles, where two replay reviews on the same play led to the Indians being awarded a 7-2-4 triple play in their 10-3 win over the Dodgers.
Finally, with help from Brewerfan.net and the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- Helena Brewer Elvis Rubio, who turns 20.
- 2011-12 Brewer Nyjer Morgan, who turns 34.
- 1997 Brewer Joel Adamson, who turns 43.
- 1995-96 Brewer Steve Sparks, who turns 49.
Plunk Everyone notes that Sparks’ 52 hit-batsmen are the most ever for a pitcher born on July 2, and Morgan’s 43 career HBP are the fourth-most among position players born on this date.
Today is also the seventh anniversary of catcher Damian Miller tying a franchise record with seven RBIs in a game against the Pirates in 2007, the 25th anniversary of Robin Yount’s 2,500th hit in 1989 and the 29th anniversary of Paul Molitor’s 1,000th hit in 1985. Follow the links for those events’ respective entries in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can’t find my cup.
Drink up.
