The Brewers spent the winter trading Freddy Peralta to New York. On Monday night they made a point of showing they still like their pitching just fine, hanging seven runs on their former ace in an 8-3 win over the Mets at American Family Field.
Peralta, dealt to the Mets in a January package that brought back prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams, faced Milwaukee for the first time since the trade and never settled in. He lasted 5.1 innings, allowed eight hits and seven runs, struck out six and walked two, and fell to 5-9. The Brewers did their damage in the game in bunches: three home runs, 10 hits, and a lineup that kept moving even when Peralta reached back for a strikeout.
Joey Ortiz did the heaviest lifting, driving in three with a home run. Andrew Vaughn added a two-run shot, and rookie Cooper Pratt turned in the night’s best all-around line, going 3-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored. Garrett Mitchell chipped in two hits and Brice Turang drove in another.
The story on the mound was Milwaukee’s willingness to let its young arms and its bullpen carry a full game. Jacob Misiorowski opened with four shutout innings, striking out six and allowing four hits before handing off. Craig Yoho (2-0) picked up the win with a scoreless frame, Lance McCullers Jr. worked three innings for a hold in his second week as a Brewer, and Grant Anderson closed it out. Four pitchers combined for the final five innings without an earned run, an outcome a bullpen that has covered more than its share of innings this year had earned.
The win pushed Milwaukee to 63-37, the best record in the National League, and stretched its NL Central lead to seven games over the Cubs, who lost in extra innings to Detroit. It was the Brewers’ fourth straight win.
This is the shape of the team all season: no single star, a rotation thinned by trades and injuries, and a roster that keeps winning because the depth holds. Peralta is a Met now, and the results have stayed in Milwaukee.
For fantasy managers, Misiorowski remains a strong streamer whenever the Brewers let him work past the fourth inning; the strikeout rate travels, though the short leash caps his win equity. Ortiz is worth a look in deeper leagues while he is hitting in run-producing spots, and Yoho’s second win is a reminder that saves and vulture wins in this bullpen are hard to predict. McCullers is not yet a rotation add, and Vaughn is best used as a corner-infield stream against left-handed pitching.
