A Brewers debut for the ages
Freddy Peralta strikes out 13 Rockies in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-3 victory.
DENVER - As Freddy Peralta walked to the visiting dugout Sunday afternoon at the end of an incredible major-league debut at Coors Field, the infielders gathered around Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell at the mound and spotted Peralta’s parents and girlfriend in the stands, cheering with great emotion.
“I almost cried,” first baseman Jesus Aguilar said. “They were so happy, so proud of their son. I was talking with (Manny) Pina. I said, ‘Let’s cry. Why not?’
“It was close, I’m telling you.”
It has been said there is no crying in baseball but this was a day for tears of happiness, far beyond the fact that the Brewers topped the Rockies, 7-3, to take three of four games in the series. It was a day that those in the organization and those who support it will talk about for some time.
Peralta made it special by taking a nohitter into the sixth and striking out 13 before departing that inning. No Brewers pitcher had recorded that many Ks in his debut, with Steve Woodard’s previous mark of 12 standing since 1997.
Peralta’s family story made it even more memorable. His parents never had seen him pitch professionally and traveled from the Dominican Republic to Colorado Springs, where their son was scheduled to pitch Saturday night for the Class AAA Sky Sox.
But Chase Anderson got sick, the Brewers needed a starter for Sunday and an unexpected door opened that Peralta charged through like a seasoned veteran. His father, Pedro, is a sentimental sort known for crying during special occasions and this was a full-box-of-Kleenex kind of day.
“He was magnificent,” Counsell said. “He got his nerves out after the first three pitches of the game. Then, it just kept getting better.”
The moment sometimes can be too big for young athletes, no matter how talented. But Peralta let it be known right away this would be his day by striking out five of the first six batters he faced. In two separate innings, he whiffed the trio
of Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story.
“He dominated,” Aguilar said. “It was kind of unbelievable. I never seen the second baseman (2016 NL batting champ DJ LeMahieu) look like that. (Charlie) Blackmon looked like he couldn’t see the ball. Arenado, too.
“They have really good hitters, and he dominated, easy, with his fastball. It was impressive.”
It’s not as if Peralta is a flamethrower who just blows fastballs by hitters. He pitches mostly in the low 90s but isn’t afraid to go up in the strike zone, where he gets the majority of his swings and misses.
“You could just see by the swings they weren’t comfortable with the fastball,” Counsell said. “He mixed in enough offspeed (pitches). I thought Manny did a nice job mixing in the off-speed in the right spots to keep the hitters honest.
“(Pitching up in the zone) is by plan. It’s expected. It’s always been his strength. It’s where he pitches; it’s where he’s been good. This is what we’ve learned. He’s one of these pitchers where up in the zone is very effective. For so long, pitchers were told not to do it.
“Now, we have several guys where up in the zone is where you want to be. It’s very similar to Corey (Knebel) as far as where the ball goes.”
Making this even more gratifying for all involved is what a great kid Peralta is. He always has a smile on his face, has an evident joie de vivre, wants to please, listens and learns from instruction. The kind of young player you want to succeed.
Afterward, a beaming, wet-eyed Peralta, smiling through braces, tried to express what it all meant to him, eschewing a translator to speak to reporters in English.
“It was better than I expected,” he said. “I did everything that I know how to do. The pitching coach (Derek Johnson) told me to smile, breathe and pitch. So, that was what I did. I just tried to compete and throw the ball well.”
Peralta said he tried not to look at his parents during the game because he knew it would make him too emotional. He flipped them the ball he used to warm up before the game, went out and did his thing, then had a family gathering that left everyone weeping and giving thanks.
“I know they are so happy for me,” Peralta said. “I am, too, for them. It was a special day.
“I know that my father cries a lot. Yesterday, when I told him everything that was going on, he was crying. My mother is stronger. She tells me all the time that he cries when I pitch.”
Counsell said it helped Peralta mentally to have pitched in similar challenging conditions for pitchers in Colorado Springs. He also knew when he took the mound he had the full support of his teammates.
“Some guys before the game came to me and talked to me,” Peralta said. “They told me, ‘Don’t worry. Just pitch. Be yourself.’ I say, ‘Ok, let’s go. Let’s do it.’ ”
And then Peralta went out and did it.