Joe & Ebo Experience: Pitching Woes

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Badgers Insider RJ Brachman (21:50)

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Sports Director Zach Heilprin (42:30)

    Bats come alive, Brewers beat Pirates 9-7

    The offense has been hard to come by for the Milwaukee Brewers as of late. On Monday night, it finally exploded. The crew took down the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7 to win game one of the three-game set.

    Christian Yelich led the way for Milwaukee. He smashed two home runs to help the offense.

    “When you go 4-for-5 with two homers, I don’t care who you are, it’s an enormous night,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It was a great night. He has the ability to put us on his back, offensively. He has done it before. He did it for a pretty long stretch last year. Tonight was a night he did it again.”

    Yelich had plenty of help too. Lorenzo Cain, Eric Thames and Orlando Arcia combined for seven hits, five runs scored and two runs batted in.

    The Brewers made it interesting in the end though. It was a win that came easy despite the offensive outburst.

    Jordan Lyles pitched a solid game in his second start for the Brewers. In five innings of work, he allowed just one earned run on five hits.

    “Jordan pitched very well for us,” Counsell said. “Jordan is executing pitches; that’s what he’s doing. His breaking ball has been really good. He threw more sliders tonight. We should have escaped through five with one run, really.”

    Milwaukee took an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Freddy Peralta then had some problems finding the strike zone. He gave up a three-run triple to Kevin Newman pulling the Pirates within two, 8-6.

    Josh Hader took the ball and was able to end the team’s losing streak by getting Josh Bell to pop-out.

    Next up, the Brewers (58-56) take on the Pirates (48-64) Tuesday night. Chase Anderson (5|2, 3.73 ERA, 90 SO) will get the start opposite of Steven Brault (3|1, 4.15 ERA, 53 SO). First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm.

      Yelich will no longer participate in Home Run Derby

      Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Star and last year’s NL MVP Christian Yelich was set to participate in this year’s Home Run Derby. However, that will not happen anymore. Matt Chapman will replace Yelich, who is dealing with back issues.

      It would’ve been a sight to see. Yelich currently leads MLB with 31 home runs this season. Some Brewers’ fans weren’t thrilled when the news came out he was going to compete. History has shown the derby can mess with a players’ swing during the second half of the season. Fans of the Yelich and the Brewers won’t have to worry about that anymore.

      There is no word yet if Yelich will play in the All-Star Game.

      Obviously, the most important thing for Yelich is to be healthy as the Brewers try to make the playoffs for the second straight season. But we all would be lying if we said we weren’t looking forward to seeing #22 hit bombs in the derby.

        Christian Yelich to participate in Home Run Derby

        Christian Yelich is the reigning NL MVP and is following it up with another terrific season for the Milwaukee Brewers.

        On Saturday, during Fox’s television broadcast of the Brewers vs Pirates game, Yelich agreed to wear a microphone. He was heard talking with Pirates first baseman Josh Bell about the two competing in the Home Run Derby.

        After the game, Yelich made it official that he would be participating in the event. He leads MLB with 29 home runs this season.

        “I’m going to do it,” Yelich said. “I thought it would be something that would be fun. I grew up watching it on TV. I feel like now is as good a time as any. We’ll see how it goes.”

        Yelich went on to talk about if he had any concerns about the belief that competing in the Home Run Derby can mess up a hitter’s swing. He said that he was confident it would have no effect on him going forward.

        Brewers’ first baseman Jesus Aguilar falls into that category. He entered the All-Star break last season with 24 home runs on the year. Then, after doing the Home Run Derby hit only 11 in the second half. Aguilar has only five homers in 72 games this season.

        “I think maybe it applies to certain guys,” Yelich said. “But, for the most part, I’m really not too worried about it. I kind of do the same thing every day in batting practice anyway. For me, it’s no different. It should be fun.”

          Joe & Ebo Experience: Two MVPs. One City.

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            Reds 11, Brewers 7: Last takes

            MILWAUKEE | The Milwaukee Brewers fell to the Cincinnati Reds Friday night extending their losing streak to five games.

            Walks and hit batters put Reds up early

            Brewers starter Chase Anderson put four consecutive batters on base via walk or hit by pitch in the first inning. The Reds ended up scoring three runs in the frame. Anderson was able to get the first batter he faced, Nick Senzel to ground out to first.

            He then followed by walking Joey Votto, hitting Eugenio Suarez and Derek Dietrich, then walking Yasiel Puig scoring the first run of the game. Jose Igelsias came through with a 2-RBI single to put the Reds up 3-0 right off the bat.

            Chase continued to struggle

            Anderson followed up his first inning struggles with a quick second inning. However, things turned bad again in the third. Dietrich led off with a hit by pitch making it the third batter Anderson hit on the night. After Puig flew out to second, Iglesias smacked a single. Peraza then followed with a 2-RBI triple to give the Reds a 5-0 lead.

            Milwaukee was able to score one run in the bottom of the third thanks to a single from Eric Thames. The Reds got one right back in the fourth with a leadoff home run from Senzel.

            The Brewers starter got through five innings while surrendering six runs on five hits.

            “Our job is to pitch deep into games and set up our bullpen nicely,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t done that the past five or six games. It’s the middle of June. I think we’re going to come out of this sooner rather than later.”

            HRs from Yelich and Moose get Brewers back in it

            MVP candidate Christian Yelich got the crowd roaring in the fifth inning. Ben Gamel led off the frame with a walk. Then, Yelich smacked a home run to deep center field to cut the deficit to three. Two batters latter Mike Moustakas knocked a solo shot making it 6-4.

            Three strikeouts for Shaw

            With Keston Hiura dominating in triple-a the Brewers continue to put Travis Shaw in the lineup. His night came to an end after striking out for the third time in the fifth inning.

            The fans at Miller Park obviously aren’t pleased with his recent play and they showed it booing Shaw as he walked back to the dugout.

            What’s next?

            The Brewers (40-36) will look to end their five-game losing streak Saturday against the Reds (36-38). Jhoulys Chacin (3|8, 5.60 ERA, 51 SO) will get the start for Milwaukee opposite of Luis Castillo (7|1, 2.26 ERA, 103 SO). First pitch is scheduled for 3:10pm.

              Peralta gets roughed up in start, Brewers fall to Astros 10-8

              Freddy Peralta continues to struggle as a starter for the Brewers. It didn’t get any better Monday night in Houston. The Astros roughed him up pretty bad as they went on to top the Brewers 10-8.

              Peralta was coming off a good start against the Miami Marlins giving up only four hits and one run. That success didn’t carry over to Houston. He allowed eight hits and six runs in four-plus innings including two of the Astros’ four home runs. Peralta went to 3-3 with a 5.81 earned run average in 13 outings.

              Yasmani Grandal got the Brewers off to a good start in the first inning with a two-out single that plated a run. Milwaukee had a chance to do more damage with bases loaded but Jesus Aguilar grounded out.

              Christian Yelich continued his terrific season smacking a MLB-leading 25th home run. It was his fourth home run over his last nine games.

              The Brewers made it interesting in the ninth. They kept battling as Grandal smacked a three-run homer to pull them within two.

              Next up, the Brewers (38-29) will try to avoid the two-game sweep against the Astros (46-22). Brandon Woodruff (8|1, 3.87 ERA, 90 SO) will get the start for Milwaukee opposite of Justin Verlander (9|2, 2.31 ERA, 110 SO). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm.

                Brewers 5, Pirates 2: Last takes

                MILWAUKEE | The Milwaukee Brewers finished off the sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon.

                Christian Yelich blasts HR #24 on his bobblehead day

                The reigning NL MVP entered the day ranked first in HR, SLG and OPS. He added to all three in the sixth inning while the Miller Park fans held his bobblehead. It put Milwaukee on the board with their first run of the afternoon.

                “That guy is on a different planet,” Mike Moustakas said.

                Moustakas may be on to something. Starter Chase Anderson said after the game that Yelich wanted to prove last year’s MVP season wasn’t a fluke. I think he’s off to a good start this season.

                Mike Moustakas wins a fan a car with his 20th dinger

                “That homer won us the game and somebody a car, which is pretty cool,” Yelich said.

                Moustakas did more than hit a home run on Sunday as Yelich pointed out. His 20th dinger of the season put the Brewers in front leading to the win and sent a couple fans home with a brand new car.

                His game-winning two-run home run was his fourth in his last four games. You can’t overstate how big it was for the Brewers to be able to bring Moustakas back this off-season.

                https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1137820898638086144

                “I didn’t know that I actually won somebody a car until afterwards,” Moustakas said. “You came to ballgame and leave with a car is pretty cool.”

                He has been on a tear so far this season. Moustakas and Yelich are two of the four players in MLB who have hit 20 home runs this season. The two are the first pair of teammates to each hit 20 homers within their team’s first 66 games since New York-AL’s Curtis Granderson (21) and Mark Texiera (21) in 2011.

                Brewers pitching solid throughout

                Chase Anderson made one mistake which cost his team two runs. However, he was terrific during the rest of his six innings of work. Anderson began the day retiring each of his first five batters and sent down 10 of his final 11 batters faced. He recorded a season-high-tying six strikeouts.

                Adrian Houser relieved Anderson in the seventh inning to pitch a scoreless frame. Houser has not allowed an earned run in each of his last seven appearances and in each of his last 13 innings of work. Jeremy Jeffress took care of business in the eighth inning and picked up the win. Then, in the ninth, Josh Hader walked the first batter but struck out the next three to pick up his 16th save of the season.

                What’s next?

                The Brewers (38-28) get a well-deserved day off Monday before heading out to Houston for a two-game set with the Astros (45-22) beginning Tuesday.