Freddy Peralta and the Brewers’ bullpen struggle, blown out by Cubs

Freddy Peralta has a bad day, and the bullpen wasn’t much better

Box Score

The Brewers had a chance to sweep the Cubs and move into a commanding position in the NL Central with a win today. However, the Cubs would not go quietly. They hit the Brewers’ pitchers hard right from the start, and it was just an overall bad day as the Brewers dropped the series finale 10-3.

It was a bad day for Freddy Peralta right from the start. On the first pitch of the game, Peralta threw a fastball right down the middle of the plate, and Michael Busch did not miss it. He hit a home run into the right field bleachers, and the Brewers were immediately behind 1-0. It didn’t get better as Peralta walked Kyle Tucker on five pitches. His control was problematic early, as five of his first eight pitches were balls (and the sixth was the easy home run). He did get it back under control as he struck out Seiya Suzuki. However, Pete Crow-Armstrong hit an easy curveball over Brice Turang for a single. Peralta’s command and velocity improved as he got Carson Kelly to pop up to Andrew Vaughn. He then had to battle Nico Hoerner but struck him out to end the inning. Peralta limited the Cubs to one run but needed 28 pitches to do it.

Meanwhile, it looked like Shota Imanaga was strong early. He began his day with strikeouts of Sal Frelick and Isaac Collins. However, William Contreras did not let the early Cubs’ lead hold for long. He hit a splitter just over the left-field fence, and the Brewers tied the game at 1-1. It was Contreras’ first home run since June 14.

Christian Yelich was down 0-2 quick against Imanaga but battled back to an eight-pitch at-bat. He ended up striking out, and Imanaga struck out the side. However, the game was tie,d and the Brewers made him throw 24 pitches in the first inning.

Peralta bounced back quickly with a strong second inning. He needed just eight pitches to get through the inning, starting with a four-pitch groundout of Moisés Ballesteros. Dansby Swanson hit the first pitch he saw hard, but Blake Perkins ran it down for the second out. Matt Shaw then struck out on three pitches, and Peralta’s pitch count was in a much more reasonable spot.

Andrew Vaughn led off the second for the Brewers and just kept hitting as he singled to left field. Unfortunately, that was followed by two quick outs. Caleb Durbin popped out, then Brice Turang went for a bunt, but it hung long enough for Shaw to grab it. Imanaga struck out Perkins to end the inning.

The third started out well for Peralta with a Busch flyout. It unraveled quickly from there, though.

Tucker singled for the Cubs’ first baserunner of the inning, then Suzuki drew a walk. Crow-Armstrong cashed in a run with a double to right, which Turang deflected and likely allowed the Cubs to take an extra base. Things looked better as Kelly hit a ground ball right at Vaughn, who threw home, and Contreras easily got Suzuki. Unfortunately, Peralta walked Hoerner, and Ballesteros cleared the bases with a double. Swanson grounded out to end the inning, but the Cubs were up 5-1, and Peralta needed 34 pitches to get through the frame.

The Brewers couldn’t respond in the bottom of the inning. Imanaga recovered from his long first inning and got a groundout of Joey Ortiz, a flyout from Frelick, and a strikeout of Collins for a semi-quick third.

Manager Pat Murphy stuck with Peralta for the fourth, though the bullpen was active in case it was needed. Tucker drew a two-out walk off of Peralta. Otherwise, it was all on Frelick in the fourth. He recorded all three outs — a flyout of Shaw, and lineouts from Busch and Suzuki.

Peralta’s day came to an end there. It was his worst start in a while. He only pitched four innings and allowed a season-high five runs. He also tied his season-high for walks with four and allowed five hits. It was also one of his lowest strikeout days, as he recorded only three.

Contreras led off the fourth as he faced Imanaga for the second time of the day. The result was the same as the first time — a solo home run, this one out to right field.

That was it for the Brewers in the fourth. Imanaga recovered with a groundout of Yelich, a strikeout of Vaughn, and a flyout of Durbin to finish the inning.

DL Hall was first out of the bullpen for the Brewers. He came out strong with a strikeout of Crow-Armstrong. He then got Carson Kelly to ground out and finished the inning by catching a ground ball hit sharply right at him, with a toss to first for an easy out to end the inning.

Meanwhile, the Brewers kept chipping away at Imanaga. Perkins hit a one-out double down the left field line, then Ortiz singled to left to move Perkins to third. Frelick nearly tied the game with a deep fly ball to right. However, Tucker caught it on the warning track, but it was enough to score Perkins and close the gap to 5-3. Collins had the chance to tie it but struck out to end the inning.

They would give that run back right away in the sixth, though. Back-to-back doubles by pinch-hitter Justin Turner and Swanson made it a three-run deficit again. Shaw followed it with an infield single hit to Durbin, but it kept Swanson at second.

Murphy went to Jared Koenig here. Busch grounded out to Turang, though it was too slow to turn two, so he took the out at first, moving up the other runners. Tucker then brought them in with a double just fair down the right field line, putting the Brewers behind by five runs once again. Koenig then walked Suzuki and hit Crow-Armstrong with a pitch.

Murphy made another change and brought in Grant Anderson. That worked as Anderson got out of the bases-loaded jam in five pitches. Kelly popped out to the infield on the second pitch, and Hoerner lined out on the third pitch of his at-bat to end the inning.

Brad Keller came in from the Cubs’ bullpen to start the bottom of the sixth. It started with Contreras grounding out, but Shaw’s throw was off the mark, and Busch barely got to the bag in time. Murphy challenged, but the call stood, and had Contreras run at full speed, he would have beaten the throw. The Brewers went quietly from there, with Yelich striking out and Vaughn grounding out.

Anderson remained in the game for the seventh and had one of the few short innings the pitchers had in this one. He struck out the side — pinch-hitter Ian Happ, Swanson, and Shaw. As for the Brewers, a two-out single from Perkins gave the Brewers a baserunner. Pinch-hitter Anthony Seigler hit a fly ball that had a chance to fall, but a sliding catch by Suzuki ended the inning.

Easton McGee came into the game in the eighth, and Durbin moved over to shortstop to finish out the game. McGee struck out two in the inning, and Durbin handled a routine groundout for a clean top of the inning. Meanwhile, the Cubs brought in Caleb Thielbar, and he sat the Brewers down in order, with Andruw Monasterio pinch-hitting for Collins.

McGee’s second inning was much rougher than the first. Crow-Armstrong led off with a double, then Kelly moved him to third with a deep fly ball to Frelick in right. Another fly ball to Frelick allowed Crow-Armstrong to score. Happ then added a little more insurance with a home run into the Cubs’ bullpen to make it a 10-3 game.

Danny Jansen made his Brewers debut to start the bottom of the ninth inning against Cubs’ closer Daniel Palencia. His first at-bat resulted in a strikeout. Vaughn flew out to Tucker for the second out. Durbin had a two-out single up the middle to extend the game for the moment. Turang hit a broken-bat ground ball to try to extend it a little more, but it was a routine groundout to end the game.

The pitching staff had a poor performance overall. Peralta allowed five runs in his four innings of work. Hall was charged with three runs in one-plus innings. Koenig wasn’t charged with a run allowed, but he allowed both of the runners he inherited to score. Anderson was the only pitcher with a good day as he pitched 1 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings and struck out three. McGee had a scoreless eighth but struggled through the ninth, allowing two runs.

Contreras led the offense with two home runs, and Perkins also had a two-hit day. That was most of the offense. Three other hits were scattered among the offense, and the Brewers didn’t walk once in the game.

Despite the loss, the Brewers are still in a good position in the division. They maintain a one-game lead in the standings as the month of July comes to a close. The season series between the two teams is tied at 4-4, with the five-game series in Chicago next month set to decide who takes the season series and the tiebreaker.

Thursday is an off day for the Brewers (with only three games scheduled in MLB as a whole), but there will be plenty of news to watch prior to the trade deadline at 5 p.m. CT. Whether the Brewers will be involved in that news is to be determined, but you can follow all of the news on our MLB Trade Deadline Tracker.

After that, the Brewers open a three-game series in Washington on Friday. Jose Quintana will open the series against Mitchell Parker of the Nationals. First pitch is set for 5:45 p.m. CT, and it will be an exclusive national broadcast on Apple TV+. It will also be on the Brewers Radio Network.