If this were the regular season, it’d have been “dramatic”
We’ve reached the dog days of Cactus League play, and your local nine (well, actually, 22 Brewers played in this game) are mostly just going through the motions until they start the season in New York next Thursday. But for a few players, these games still matter quite a bit, and others are trying to maintain form (or find it) before the season starts. They got that work in today in a 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
One of the players who is certainly still playing for something is Tyler Black. After today’s roster moves (Andruw Monasterio was optioned and Jorge Alfaro and Craig Yoho were sent to Triple-A), a bit of quick accounting will tell you that the last Brewer position player spot is almost certainly going to come down to either Tyler Black (who is on the 40-man roster) or Jake Bauers (who isn’t). Bauers has had a nice spring, and Black, well, has not. In theory, you have to imagine that the Brewers would love Black to make the team; he doesn’t have much else to prove in the minors, he’s getting old enough to make you antsy about his prospect status, and you wouldn’t have to make any 40-man moves for him (though I should note that I do not think that 40-man status is a major barrier to bringing Bauers with the squad if that’s what the team thinks is best).
Well, it didn’t happen until the eighth inning today, but Black finally got a big spring training hit. He made a couple of outs but walked and scored in his first three at-bats, so it hadn’t been a useless day for him, but he came up in the eighth with two men on, two outs, and a two-run deficit. And what do you know: Black launched a go-ahead three-run homer, his first extra-base hit of the spring. If he can get some mojo going over these last few days, he might just play himself onto the team.
Aaron Civale got in what is likely his second-to-last appearance before the start of the regular season today, and while he wasn’t at his sharpest, he was fine. If he weren’t an experienced veteran there would be more cause for alarm, as three earned runs (and a fourth unearned) in four innings raised his spring ERA to 6.23. But his control wasn’t bad and he struck out three batters, and he came out of the game healthy, which for this team at this moment is by far the most important thing.
The pitchers who followed Civale held the White Sox scoreless. Blake Holub pitched a scoreless fifth (with a hit and a strikeout), and likely big-leaguers Joel Payamps and Elvis Peguero followed with innings that flirted with danger but ended in zeroes. Bryan Hudson worked a 1-2-3 top of the eighth (dropping his ERA by over two runs in the process, though it still reads in four digits, which is an issue), and after Black’s homer put the Brewers ahead, Grant Wolfram gave up a triple and a walk with two outs in the ninth but got the last out to end the game.
On the offensive side, freshly-minted shortstop Joey Ortiz had a nice day, as he went 2-for-2 with an RBI double and a hit-by-pitch. Christian Yelich got a couple of base knocks, and Jackson Chourio’s 1-for-3 performance dropped his spring batting average to .475. Caleb Durbin, whose presence on the roster seems all but assured after Monasterio was optioned earlier today, hit an RBI single and stole his fifth base of the spring. Vinny Capra, who is also essentially now a lock for the roster, was 0-for-3.
The Brewers are off tomorrow before hosting the Diamondbacks for a night game on Friday at 8 p.m. CT, which will be televised on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin.