Delivering good news with the bad
Peralta gets save; Chacin suffers oblique strain
The good news for the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon was they found another high-leverage relief pitcher, a definite need in an overworked bullpen.
The bad news was the Brewers lost a starting pitcher for the second time in four days, with basically the same injury. Jhoulys Chacín, who was struggling mightily in any event to pitch effectively, was lost after three innings of the game against Cincinnati at Miller Park with a right oblique strain.
Manager Craig Counsell said afterward Chacín was headed to the injured list, where he will join Brandon Woodruff, who suffered a left oblique strain Sunday in Arizona. The off day Thursday gave the Brewers time to think about replacing Woodruff but now they have to think even harder with two starters out.
Chacín was injured swinging the bat in the bottom of the third, straining the oblique on a swing as he grounded out to short. He did not come out for the fourth inning and expressed frustration later over getting hurt while hitting instead of pitching.
All Counsell knew for sure Wednesday afternoon was that he had three starters lined up for the upcoming big series against the Chicago Cubs – Gio Gonzalez, Chase Anderson and Zach Davies. Then comes an off day Monday and on to Oakland for a three-game interleague series that begins a nine-day trip.
“We’re set up for the Cubs weekend; that’s my early thought,” Counsell said. “The Oakland series is six days away, at this point. We’re going to have to find somebody to do that but we’ve got some time. It puts us in a bind right now.”
Counsell said he was not inclined to move Freddy Peralta back to a starting role and you could understand why after the Brewers pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Reds. Having used Josh Hader to cover the seventh and eighth innings, Counsell gave the 23-year-old Peralta his first save opportunity and he came through in brilliant fashion with a 12-3 ninth.
Peralta had been inching his way toward this opportunity for weeks, pitching better and better out of the bullpen, including his first back-to-back outings last weekend in Arizona. His confidence has blossomed along the way, along with his manager's confidence in him to pitch in bigger spots.
“Freddy was going to pitch the ninth,” Counsell said. “That was the plan. It was more a function of the lineup. It made sense. They had a bunch of left-handed hitters coming up in the seventh. Why wouldn't we pitch Josh there? Josh did a great job and set Freddy up well. It was just a function of the lineup.
“Freddy was fresh today and we've seen the way he has been throwing the ball, the amount of strikes he has been throwing... He fits the ninth inning. His stuff fits there. It gives us some options and we'll continue to look at it like that.”
Counsell has been looking for other late-inning options because too often this season it has been Hader-or-bust, with Corey Knebel out for the season and Jeremy Jeffress unable to match his 2018 all-star season. Given a chance to close Monday night, Jeffress surrendered a two-run homer to Cincinnati's Eugenio Suárez that cost the Brewers the game.
Asked if he might have no choice but to move Peralta back to the rotation, Counsell said, “I don't think we can rule anything out right now. We have three healthy starters. That's a possibility for sure.”
Having said that, Counsell said, “He's going to pitch out of the bullpen in the Cubs series, for sure. It's tough, with the way he's throwing the ball and the options he gives us in the bullpen, it's pretty important. In a lot of ways, it filled something we've needed. So, it's crossed something off in my opinion.”
If Peralta was nervous coming on for the ninth inning with a one-run lead, he didn't show it. He struck out Jose Peraza and Phillip Ervin, quickly putting him within an out of his first save. But that one out was Joey Votto, one of the best hitters in the league for many years.
As he usually does, Votto put up a fight, taking the count from 0-2 to 3-2 before finally flying out to left on the ninth pitch. Peralta challenged him with six consecutive fastballs to finish that duel, all in the 96-98 mph range.
Asked if he knew he had the ninth, Peralta said, “I didn't know but I was getting ready, just in case. I was ready for the call. It was my time. I know the position the team was in at that moment.”
Peralta, who doesn't hesitate showing his emotions and spirit on the mound, said he knew he had to be as calm as possible as he trotted in from the bullpen.
“It was a really good moment for me,” said Peralta, who already had the game ball in a display case in his locker as he talked to reporters. “This is like a gift. I'm going to call my mom (in the Dominican Republic) after this and say, I have this (baseball) for you.”
In the clubhouse after the game, the Brewers held their usual celebration for a first-time event, showering Peralta with beer and milk. It was a fun-filled moment, but the days ahead are going to be tougher with an injury-thinned rotation.