Peralta shines as Yelich, Haase go deep
PHOENIX – The Milwaukee Brewers snapped out of their weeklong yet inconsequential spring funk with a pair of split-squad victories Saturday afternoon.
At American Family Fields of Phoenix,
Freddy Peralta pitched five strong innings in a penultimate tune-up while Eric Haase and Christian Yelich homered in a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.
On the road against the Oakland Athletics, Jake Bauers and Oliver Dunn each homered to lead a 10-4 win.
Freddy Peralta is officially the unofficial opening day starter
It's the worst-kept secret in Maryvale that Freddy Peralta is going to be the opening day starter.
It's a conversation that Peralta and manager Pat Murphy have yet to officially have, but the look in Peralta's eyes while speaking to reporters following his outing Saturday said it all.
“We have a very good relationship. I think that other players would have to talk a lot more,” Peralta said. “I think because we've been together for a lot of years, if looks at me, I know what he means and what he's trying to tell me.”
And is Peralta expecting to pitch on March 28 in New York?
“Yeah,” Peralta said with a big grin. “I think.”
Peralta looked the best he has this spring over five one-run innings, striking out five and not issuing a walk. His lone blemish was a solo home run in the third.
Other than that, Peralta was pumping in his fastballs with vigor, just as he has all camp. His final pitch of the day was 97 mph, which is a great sign.
“Fastball is 100% what I wanted,” Peralta said. “It was very good, I could tell, today with how I was executing that pitch on all the corners. That's most important for me.”
More important for Peralta was gaining a better feel for his breaking stuff, which was hit hard in his previous outing against the Mariners.
“They were very good,” Peralta said, “especially with the slider. The changeup early was a bit too high in location but I made the adjustment.”
Eric Haase goes yard ... again
With William Contreras starting and going 2 for 3 with a run batted in, it left backup Eric Haase with just one at-bat.
Just like he has all spring, Haase took advantage of his opportunity, slugging a solo homer out to straightaway center for his third dinger of Cactus League play. Haase has a 1.370 OPS this spring as he fights for a
“Kid's been unbelievable,” Murphy said. “If you're wondering whether the kid came ready to make an impression, he sure has.”
Brewers 10, Athletics 4
The Brewers hit around a pair of former Brewers for the second win of the day.
Bauers socked his first home run of the spring, a two-run shot off reliever Trevor Gott as the former Milwaukee right-hander allowed five runs without recording an out.
Dunn then added to the damage with a three-run blast off former Brewers farmhand Lucas Erceg.
Jakob Junis made the start and allowed three runs on five hits over 4 2⁄ innings.
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Bauers, Dunn, Tyler Black and Gary Sanchez each had two hits.