Peralta dominates as Brewers bounce back

Freddy is in the spotlight for Milwaukee’s win

Box Score

Freddy Peralta was the star of the show for the Brewers on Wednesday night.

In Milwaukee’s 5-3 win against the San Francisco Giants, Peralta put together his most dominant start in weeks. His strikeout flair was on display with eight punchouts while limiting the Giants to two hits. The Giants simply didn’t have a read on Peralta’s stuff. He tallied 17 whiffs on 47 swings (36%) and 20 called strikes, according to Baseball Savant.

Nights like this are worth paying attention to as the season nears its end. The playoffs are encroaching, and peak Peralta is a necessary component to a playoff run. In this win, Peralta did it all. He got whiffs, limited hard-contact, and even played some defense when he initiated a double play to end the first inning.

Peralta allowed a single hit through the first five innings while the Brewers offense gradually unthawed. Milwaukee’s own bats didn’t get much done against lefty Kyle Harrison through the first four innings as they registered just one hit themselves.

When they broke out, they did it with style.

It’s becoming almost a cliche for these Brewers, but it was once again their clutch performance with two outs and their dynamic star Jackson Chourio.

In the fifth inning, Andruw Monasterio and Sal Frelick got on base with a pair of walks. With two outs, it was Chourio who came through to open the game’s scoring. A well-executed groundball to the opposite field gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

The Brewers never seem to settle, though. They continued the rally with Blake Perkins sending a double deep into the outfield. Two runners would score with the speedy Chourio making his way home from first base.

If the crowd wasn’t loud enough already, William Contreras joined in on the action with a two-run shot.

These rallies epitomize much of what drives this team. Some small-ball, two-out rallies with a knockout punch from one of their stars.

Perkins’ double was his marquee moment in the game, but his overall performance deserves mention. He went 2-for-3 with a walk as he’s posted a .791 OPS over his last 40 at-bats.

While the overall result was a positive, there was some injury worry when Sal Frelick hit a foul ball hard off his knee in the seventh inning. He continued the at-bat, but clearly was playing through pain as he hobbled on his leg. He was removed after that half-inning, replaced by Garrett Mitchell.

Late in the game, the Giants fought their way back into the game as the Brewers’ bullpen struggled to keep the clean sheet. Trevor Megill allowed the first run after giving up a double to Matt Chapman and an RBI single to Thairo Estrada. He was able to clean up the inning with a double play to limit the damage.

Now sitting at 5-1, Jared Koenig entered for the eighth inning. Two strikeouts set him up for a quick inning, but the Giants pulled out some two-out magic for themselves. Three consecutive hits reduced the Brewers’ lead to 5-3.

The Brewers went back to the bullpen, calling upon Joel Payamps to shut down the inning. He struck out Chapman to shut the door on the rally and guarantee the Brewers entered the ninth inning with a lead.

Milwaukee nearly ran away with another big inning in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with just one out. The Brewers were unable to break through as reliever Erik Miller struck out both Rhys Hoskins and Brice Turang, who had entered earlier in the game as a pinch-hitter. That left the Brewers with a lead, but certainly not as comfortable as it could have been.

The two-run lead then meant Devin Williams would enter for the save opportunity. A quick flyout secured the first out. A nasty changeup got Thairo Estrada swinging. Another flyout to Perkins in center field locked up the win and a chance at a series win tomorrow. After allowing two runs in his last outing, it was a quick bounce back for the star closer.

Milwaukee will play that series finale tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. Aaron Civale is slated to start for the Brewers with Hayden Birdsong starting for San Francisco.