Peralta brought the heat in his debut
PHOENIX – When left-hander Josh Hader came to the major leagues last season and settled into the Brewers’ bullpen, he threw more than 80% fastballs and got by just fine. This year, he has mixed in way more sliders in becoming one of the most dominant relief forces in the majors.
Accordingly, the Brewers weren’t going to worry about prospect Freddy Peralta throwing 90 fastballs out of 98 pitches in his sensational debut Sunday in Colorado. Peralta struck out 13 and allowed only one hit in 52⁄3 innings, thoroughly dominating the Rockies’ hitters.
“Freddy performed great yesterday,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday before the Brewers opened a threegame series against Arizona.
“What was clear (Sunday) was he has a very special pitch. There were several balls thrown in the middle of the strike zone that were swung at and missed. That doesn’t happen very often in the big leagues.
"Rather than saying, ‘Is that sustainable?’, I’d say Freddy has a really good foundation, a really good pitcher that hitters don’t like. It’s a great place to build off.”
Though Peralta was credited with throwing 90 fastballs, it’s not as if those pitches were all alike. Peralta throws four-seamers and two-seamers (different grips) with different movement. Peralta said his two-seamer moves a lot like a cutter.
“(Sunday), my fastball was doing very good,” Peralta said. “I just keep throwing it.”
In the past, Peralta threw a slider as his breaking ball but this year he switched to a curveball. He mixes in an occasional changeup but threw only one against the Rockies, and it was easy to remember when. David Dahl knocked it up the middle for a base hit in the sixth inning, the only hit off Peralta.
“I was ready to throw that pitch before (catcher Manny) Pina called it,” Peralta said. “I thought the changeup was a good idea but he hit it.”
Summoned from Class AAA Colorado Springs when Chase Anderson became ill enough to go on the DL, Peralta will get at least one more start with the Brewers. Counsell said he would pitch Saturday in Minnesota, flanked by Brent Suter and Junior Guerra.
Anderson, who now thinks he contracted food poisoning, was feeling much better Monday and expects to be activated to pitch against Arizona at the outset of the next home stand. Zach Davies, on the DL with rotator cuff inflammation, hopes to throw a bullpen ses- sion Wednesday but his return to the rotation is undetermined.
Battle of the pens: Entering the series, the Diamondbacks had the topranked bullpen in the majors (2.41 ERA) and the Brewers were second (2.67 ERA). The Brewers’ relief corps had been asked to cover more innings, however.
In 41 games, Milwaukee’s relievers had pitched 1581⁄3 innings, fourth-most in the major leagues. Arizona’s had covered 1412⁄3 innings, 17th in the majors, over 40 games.
Asked if the stellar relief corps might make the managers play the game differently in terms of mid-game strategy, Counsell said, “I guess it could but it probably would be a rare instance. You’d have to have a lot of things lined up right. But we have to be in good shape with our pitching, too.
“We first have to take care of our house. Then we’ll worry about what the other team is good at, strengths and weaknesses. In the four-game series in Colorado, we had two starts of 51⁄3 innings, a three-inning start and a five-inning start. That’s a lot of bullpen innings.”