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Brewers, Bucks to see fan capacity increase

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The Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee Bucks are increasing fan capacity at American Family Field and Fiserv Forum increase from 25% to 50% capacity.  The increase for the Brewers will be effective beginning with Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, while the Bucks increase at Fiserv Forum will become effective with the start of the NBA Playoffs later this month.

The Health Department’s new guidelines today grant higher capacities for businesses in Milwaukee County that have submitted an approved safety plan.

Fans will still be required to wear face coverings at all times when inside Fiserv Forum, except when actively eating or drinking.  Tickets will continue to be sold in pods.

 

Jordan Zimmerman announces retirement

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Pitcher Jordan Zimmerman announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Tuesday.  The Marshfield, WI native became the 11th Wisconsin-born player to play for the Brewers.  He made two relief appearances with the Brewers after signing as a free agent on Feb. 9.

Zimmerman retires after 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with Washington (2009-15), Detroit (2016-20) and Milwaukee (2021).  He went 95-91 with a 4.07 ERA in 279 career games, including 275 starts.  He was a two-time All-Star (2013-14) and author of the first no-hitter in Washington Nationals history on Sept. 28, 2014 vs. Miami.  he pitched in the postseason with the Nationals in 2012 and 2014.

Zimmerman issued just 1.92 walks per nine innings during his Major League career, trailing only Josh Tomlin (1.32) among active pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched.  He finished seventh in 2013 National League Cy Young Award voting after producing a career-high 19 wins.  he finished fifth in 2014 National League Cy Young Award voting after posting a career-best 2.66 ERA.  Zimmerman made 30+ starts four times (2012-15) and twice was an Opening Day starter (2018-19).

Zimmerman was selected by Washington in the second round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft out of the Division III University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  He is a graduate of Auburndale (WI) High School.

 

Yelich back on Brewers Injured List (AUDIO)

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Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich was activated from the injured list on Monday.  Twenty-Four hours later, Yelich landed back on the injured list after his

Christian Yelich

back didn’t respond to game action like they had hoped it would.

“I think it goes to finding more answers and trying to get a better hold on what we’ve got going on, stop it from happening and get back out there healthy,” said Yelich on Tuesday.  “I’m not where I need to be to go out there on an everyday basis.  I wasn’t where I needed to be yesterday.  It just wasn’t good.  I was able to make it through the game but being able to stack them on top of each other, just health-wise and be able to play at a certain level, just wasn’t there.  That’s pretty much back to where we are.”

Prior to Monday’s activation, Yelich has already missed three weeks because of the back issue and the Brewers don’t know exactly what they’re dealing with.  They’ve already had MRI’s performed on Yelich that show no structural damage. [Read more…]

Yelich still struggling with lower back issue (AUDIO)

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Christian Yelich

Christian Yelich was eligible to come off the Milwaukee Brewers injured list over the weekend, but that doesn’t appear to be ready to happen anytime soon.

An MRI on the outfielder’s strained lower back showed no major issues, but Yelich was sent back to Milwaukee after manager Craig Counsell said he hit a “plateau” in his recovery.

Yelich hasn’t played in a game with the Brewers since April 11.

“We basicly just ruled out anything significant structurally that would show up on the MRI,” Counsell said Sunday.  “We still need to make progress to get him back on the field and so from that perspective not much has changed.  But we’ll keep moving forward and see what some activity tomorrow at the field brings.”

Yelich is hitting .333 (10-for-30) in nine games with the Brewers this season.

AUDIO: Craig Counsell on Yelich’s condition after MRI :21

Brewers top pick to start Minor League career in the Fox Cities

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Garrett Mitchell – Photo Courtesy of the Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee Brewers 2020 first-round draft pick Garrett Mitchell will begin his pro baseball career in the Fox Cities with the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Mitchell was the 20th overall pick by the Brewers out of UCLA.  The centerfielder had an outstanding spring with the Brewers in Phoenix, playing in 22 games and hitting .355 (11 for 31) with one home run, six RBI, three stolen bases and .973 OPS.

The performance likely had the Brewers feeling good about having Mitchell skip Low-A Carolina and proceed to Wisconsin.

It’ll be Mitchell’s pro debut after his rookie season last year was cancelled by the pandemic.

 

Baseball suspends Cubs reliever for throwing at Brewers Woodruff (AUDIO)

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Brandon Woodruff

Major League Baseball announced Thursday the suspension of Chicago Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera for three games and fined him an undisclosed amount of money for throwing at Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff during Tuesday nights game at American Family Field.

Tepera’s suspension was due to start Friday when the Cubs open a home series against the Atlanta Braves, but he is appealing the decision.

Cubs manager David Ross received a one-game suspension and will serve it Friday.

Tepera’s pitch in the fifth inning missed its intended target, going behind Woodruff’s legs.  It’s believed the pitch came in retaliation for Woodruff hitting Cubs catcher Willson Contreras in the fourth inning.  It’s the 3rd time this season that Contreras has been hit by Brewers pitchers in five games.

There were no ejections in the game, but the home plate umpire warned both benches and the remainder of the game went without further incident.

The Brewers and Cubs play each other again in a three-game series at the end of next week at Wrigley Field.

AUDIO: Mgr. Craig Counsell on pitchers pitching inside :23

AUDIO: Craig Counsell said intent is the key :14

Brewers place Cain on injured list

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The Milwaukee Brewers put centerfielder Lorenzo Cain on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a left quadriceps strain.

The 35-year-old outfielder suffered the injury while running to first base in Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at American Family Field.  The Brewers called up outfielder Tyrone Taylor from their alternate training site.

Cain suffered a right quadriceps injury during spring training, which allowed him to play in just seven preseason games.  He is hitting just .154 in seven regular-season games with two home runs and four RBI.

Taylor was one of the Brewers last players cut out of spring camp.  He hit .293 in 19 games with 2 HR and four RBI.  He hit .237 with two home runs and six RBI in 22 games during the pandemic shortened 2020 season.

Brewers send Arcia to Atlanta

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The Milwaukee Brewers are going all in on Luis Urias at shortstop, trading Orlando Arcia to the Atlanta Braves for a pair of pitchers on Tuesday.

The Brewers acquired right-handers Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka in the deal, assigning both to the teams Alternate Training Site in Appleton.  The Brewers then replaced Arcia on the roster with veteran reliever Brad Boxberger.

Arcia was hitting .091 through the first four games, starting the team’s last two games at third base.

Arcia hit .260 in the pandemic shortened 2020 season but is a .244 career hitter.  Arcia’s best season came in 2017 when he hit .277 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI.

The 27-year-old Sobotka was a fourth-round draft pick of the Braves in 2014 and has pitched in 50 major-league games since 2018, all in relief.  He is 1-0 with a 5.36 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 47 innings.

The 26-year-old Weigel made his major league debut for the Braves last season, throwing 2/3 of an inning in one relief appearance.  He was a seventh-round pick by Atlanta in 2015 and missed most of the 2018 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  He split the 2019 season at Class AA and AAA, going 6-2 with a 2.73 ERA in 28 games, including 18 starts.

The Brewers originally drafted Weigel out of Oxnard College in the 22nd round of the 2014 draft but were unable to sign him.  The Braves picked him the following year out of the University of Houston.

 

Brewers open their season today, after COVID scare (AUDIO)

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The Milwaukee Brewers will open their 2021 Major League Season this afternoon against the Minnesota Twins (1:10 p.m.) at American Family Field and it comes after a COVID-19 scare.

An unidentified player had a false positive during COVID-19 testing earlier in the day on Wednesday.

“At the time we got it, we did not know it was a false positive, we treated it like a positive,” said President of Baseball Operations David Stearns.  “We went through Major League Baseball’s protocols and we are now confident that it was indeed a false positive.  We went through our entire contract-tracing protocol, went through our quarantine protocol.”

“Out of an abundance of caution and through the recommendation of Major League Baseball, we have gotten all our players re-tested today.  But we don’t anticipate any issues at this point.  We are confident this was a false positive and we’ll have our full complement of players tomorrow.”

Brandon Woodruff will make his second straight opening day start for the Brewers.  Woodruff said the COVID scare brought a [Read more…]

Peralta lands fifth starter spot in Brewers rotation (AUDIO)

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Freddy Peralta

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell unveiled his five-man starting pitching rotation on Thursday and Freddy Peralta has landed the spot as the fifth and final starter in that rotation.

Peralta settled into the fifth spot after a solid spring in which he pitched 8 1/3 innings in three appearances with one start.  He struck out 15 hitters, had a 1.08 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP.  In his last appearance, a start against Seattle, he allowed a home run and a walk with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.

“I thought his last start against Seattle was a great example of, he’s pitching like a starting pitcher,” Counsell said.  “The rhythm of the game, the pitches he used, the weapons he had for different hitters, different handed-ness of hitters…just really a complete step up from a couple years ago when he had to rely on the fastball, essentially.”

“He’s worked really hard to get to this place and I think he’s had a great spring.  He’s added things to his game that I think give him a chance of having a great, great season.”

It means Josh Lindblom will start the season pitching out of the bullpen. [Read more…]