Game Thread #41: Milwaukee Brewers (19-21) @ Tampa Bay Rays (18-21)

Brewers look to bounce back after pair of frustrating losses

The Milwaukee Brewers on this Mother’s Day find themselves in the unfortunately familiar position of having to try to salvage the third game of a series which they could easily have won. It felt like the Rays were inviting the Brewers to take a victory late in yesterday’s game when a series of blunders loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of a tie game. Two popouts and a walk-off single later, and the Brewers had dropped two consecutive ugly games.

Some thought the Brewers might have the good fortune of sending ace Freddy Peralta to the mound for the second straight Sunday in which they were looking to stop a losing streak, but the TBA that has lingered for several days on Sunday’s lineup card will instead be filled by the wholly capable Chad Patrick. Starting for the Rays today is a former Brewer, at least briefly, but one whose legacy — he was traded for Willy Adames — lasts longer than the 32 ¹⁄₃ innings he threw in a Brewer uniform.

Rasmussen has at times flashed ace-like stuff, but he has mostly struggled to stay healthy. He pitched out of the bullpen with Milwaukee but was converted to a starting role after the Adames trade in 2021, and he responded by pitching to a 2.44 ERA and 2.86 FIP in 59 innings in Tampa that season. He followed that up with a fantastic 2022 season in which he was 11-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 3.26 FIP in 146 innings across 28 starts. Since then, he’s been effective when on the mound — over the past three seasons, he holds a 2.82 ERA and 4.38 K:BB ratio — but injuries have limited him severely, to just 44 ²⁄₃ innings in ‘23 and 28 ²⁄₃ innings in ‘24. So far in 2025, Rasmussen has made seven starts and thrown 35 innings and holds a very good 3.09 ERA, but his strikeouts are down a tick this season (8.2 per nine innings), and thus his FIP of 3.72 is lower. Rasmussen has also been trending in the wrong direction: he has three straight starts of five or fewer innings and three or more earned runs.

Patrick, meanwhile, has slowed somewhat since his excellent start, but the numbers belie how effective he was for most of his last appearance in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Houston. Patrick was cruising through six scoreless innings in that one before hitting a snag in the seventh when he was allowed to try to escape the inning but gave up a two-out, three-run homer to Brendan Rodgers. Patrick took losses in each of his three starts before that, but he didn’t pitch all that badly — he allowed just seven earned runs (3, 2, and 2) across those outings.

The Brewers also made a somewhat unexpected roster move today: Tobias Myers has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville, and Elvis Peguero has been recalled. Myers has made five appearances (four starts) since getting activated from the injured list in late April, and in that time, he has been uncharacteristically wild, with 10 walks in just over 16 innings. He’s also not really striking batters out — 11 in that same timeframe — so the suspicion is that Myers (who threw four innings and allowed two runs on three hits and three walks on Saturday) will need to get his command under control before he is welcomed back to the rotation. The Brewers also needed to make a spot, presumably, for Brandon Woodruff, who will make one final rehab appearance today before presumably making his return to the big leagues later this week.

Peguero broke camp with the Brewers but allowed four earned runs in 6 ¹⁄₃ innings in five appearances and was demoted. He’s had better results at Nashville, but he’s still walking a bunch of batters (4.5 per nine innings at Nashville) and not striking any out (5.6 per nine).

Looking to unlock some offense, the Brewers have made a lineup change today and will have Sal Frelick lead off for the first time this season. Jake Bauers is back in left field today, with Christian Yelich again serving as the designated hitter.

First pitch today is at 12:40 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network — if the weather holds out!