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Brewers fall to Phillies for third straight loss

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Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers squandered several opportunities to score runs in their series opener in Philadelphia on Monday night, falling 7-4 to the Phillies.

“Collectively, we didn’t play well enough to win,” said manager Craig Counsell after the game.  “We didn’t play good enough defense, we didn’t pitch well enough and we left too many guys out there (on the bases).  We didn’t do enough to get this one, and (the Phillies) deserved it.”

Lorenzo Cain, who had been scuffling himself, had a five hit night, and Mike Moustakas hit his 10th home run of the season.  But the Brewers still left 15 runners on base on the night.

Freddy Peralta got the start for the Brewers but a high pitch count led to him pitching just four innings.  Peralta allowed two runs. [Read more…]

Brewers scramble, fall to Rockies

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Chase Anderson File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Milwaukee Brewers found out less than hour before Wednesday night’s game against Colorado that starting pitcher Chase Anderson ripped open a callus on his right middle finger, sending him to the injured list.  That put the team in scramble mode as they needed to formulate a pitching plan for the night, minus Anderson.

Manager Craig Counsell handed the ball to reliever Jacob Barnes to start with and things went downhill from there.  Barnes walked the first two batters and Nolan Arenado followed with a three-run homer to center field, on the way to a 11-4 Colorado victory.

Arenado tacked on a solo homer in the ninth for his eighth home run of the season.  Trevor Story also clubbed a three-run homer for the Rockies.

Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee, and Ben Gamel added two hits and two RBI. [Read more…]

Brewers fall to Cardinals, must deal with struggling Burnes

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Craig Counsell

Corbin Burnes allowed two more home runs and made it through just 3 2/3 innings on Wednesday as the Milwaukee Brewers fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 in their series finale at Miller Park.

Burnes has now surrendered 11 home runs in his four starts and is now 0-2 with an ERA that has climbed to 10.70.

Marcell Ozuna and Matt Carpenter clubbed home runs off of Burnes on Wednesday.  The Cardinals as a team, banged out 15 hits in all, nine off of Burnes.

Last season, Burnes was a star in the Brewers bullpen, going 7-0 with a 2.61 ERA in 30 appearances.  As a starter this season, Burnes has had nothing but struggles.

The Brewers right-hander has struggled to locate his fastball, leaving the ball out over the plate far too often.  Ten of the 11 home runs that he has allowed, have come on fastballs. [Read more…]

Brewers drop series opener to the Angels (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

The Milwaukee Brewers kept Mike Trout in check but his teammates picked up the slack as the Los Angeles Angels pulled out a 5-2 win in their series opener at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.

Tommy La Stella, Andrelton Simmons and Justin Bour all belted their first home runs of the season in the Angels victory.

The home runs by Simmons and La Stella came off of Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin, who allowed only one other hit in 6 1/3 innings of work, but was saddled with his first loss (2-1) of the season.

The game featured some top plays defensively.  Christian Yelich made a lunging catch of a drive by former Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy in right center.  Yelich then fired to second to double off Albert Pujols at second base.

Just one inning later, Mike Trout pulled off an even bigger play, making a leaping catch at the wall in [Read more…]

Brewers set pitching rotation to start season (AUDIO)

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Craig Counsell

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell completed his five-man starting rotation on Thursday.

Following opening day starter Jhoulys Chacin, the Brewers will go with Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Zach Davies.  Davies has been slotted into the fifth spot, while the order in which Peralta, Burnes and Woodruff appear is yet to be determined.

Chase Anderson is the odd man out and will start the season in the bullpen.

Burnes pitched out of the bullpen for the Brewers last season, making 30 appearances and finishing with a 7-0 record and 2.61 ERA.

Woodruff bounced back and forth between the Brewers and their Triple A affiliate.  He ended up making four starts and 15 relief appearances, finishing 3-0 with a 3.61 ERA.

Peralta appeared in 16 games with 14 starts, finishing 6-4 with a 4.25 ERA.

Davies won 17 games in 2017, but rotator cuff inflammation last season meant just 13 starts and a 2-7 record with a 4.77 ERA.

AUDIO: Craig Counsell said the young guys are ready :18

AUDIO: Craig Counsell on Chase Anderson as a reliever :21

 

Knebel dealing with elbow injury (AUDIO)

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Corey Knebel

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Corey Knebel is headed for a second opinion after it was discovered he was pitching with a damaged ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

Brewers manager Craig Counsell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it’s not a complete tear, and wouldn’t likely require Tommy John surgery.

“We don’t know that,” Counsell said of Knebel possibly needing that procedure.  “Corey has pitched with this for a long time.  We’ve got to figure out what’s there, what’s new.  Make sure we get the right answer and then move forward.”

It means the Brewers will start the season without both Knebel and fellow reliever Jeremy Jeffress.  Jeffress is sidelined with shoulder weakness, but the Brewers expect to get him back before the end of April.

Jeffress made 73 appearances last season, which is a career high.  He finished 8-1 with a 1.29 ERA, striking out 89 in 76 2/3 innings.

Knebel finished strong last season and pitched in nine postseason games.  In 10 innings, he posted a 0.90 ERA with 14 strikeouts.

Counsell said they’ve been down this road before.  “In 2016 we lost Will Smith and Corey the week before the season, and we performed pretty well.  Those next guys picked up the slack and did a pretty nice job still.  That’s when J.J. kind of stepped up and did a great job.”

AUDIO: Craig Counsell said they’ve been through this before :21

AUDIO: Craig Counsell said they are not panicking :16

AUDIO: Craig Counsell said this may not be a forever thing :15

 

Brewers’ Nelson suffers arm fatigue

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Jimmy Nelson

Milwaukee Brewers right-handed pitcher Jimmy Nelson has been shut down for a few days after experiencing what is being termed “arm fatigue” by team officials.

Nelson is trying to make his way back from a shoulder injury that saw him miss the entire 2018 season while recovering from surgery.

GM David Stearns told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he’s not concerned right now.  They’re skipping a bullpen session and will wait until Nelson feels he’s ready to throw again.

“He didn’t play catch over the weekend,” manager Craig Counsell said.  “There was just a little discomfort, and so we just went slow.  It’s a very minor setback, and he’ll be back out tomorrow playing catch and moving forward again.

“I think he is close to pitching in a game, but it’s not going to be this week.  He’s going to have to face hitters first, so he’s got some steps to go.  Look, we’re being conservative.  That’s first.  There’s no red flags beyond that.  It was really just three days we’ve slowed him down.

“It’s just part of the bumps in the road in this thing that we need to get through.” [Read more…]

Brewers to give Moustakas a shot at second base

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Mike Moustakas – MLB Photo

The Milwaukee Brewers had planned to give Mike Moustakas a shot at second base when they acquired him in a trade deadline deal last year.  The move never happened because Travis Shaw took to the position so well that it wasn’t necessary.

With Moustakas signing a free agent deal with the Brewers this week, the opportunity to keep Shaw at third and try Moustakas at second is in the works.

Moustakas has never played second base at the Major League level, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell said this is what Spring Training is for.

“We would explore Mike at second base, is what we’re going to do, because that’s what we don’t know about,” Counsell said.  “At some point, we would have to make a decision.

“What we’ve talked about is not anything different than the conversation we had in late July last year when we were debating this whole thing.  Basically, what happened is Travis did a really nice job (at second base) and we ended up not exploring Mike at second base.

“Now that we’re in spring training, we have time to do that.  This is what spring training is for.”

Counsell said whoever plays second base, they will still have some third base time but one of them will be the primary second baseman.

The Brewers first full squad workout is Tuesday.  They’ll open Cactus League play against the Cubs on Saturday.

 

Brewers set catching rotation

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Craig Counsell

Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell unveiled his catching rotation plans for the upcoming season and barring injury, veteran Erik Kratz is the odd man out.

The Brewers aren’t expected to break spring training camp with more than two catchers, but the 38-year-old Kratz gives them insurance if something were to happen with either starter Yasmani Grandal or his top backup Manny Pina.

“It’s a tough spot for Erik; we understand that,” Counsell said on Wednesday.  “He made a very meaningful contribution. Acquiring Yasmani kind of put us in that spot.

Grandal started 110 games and played in 135 games for the Dodgers last season.  Manny Pina made 84 starts for the Brewers while Kratz started 54.

The Brewers first official workout with pitchers and catchers was cut short on Thursday by rain.  There is more precipitation in the forecast today.

Counsell missed out on NL Manager of the Year

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Craig Counsell – Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell led the Brewers to their first playoff berth since 2011, winning the National League Central crown.  But Counsell fell short in the voting for National League Manager of the Year, as the Baseball Writers gave the honor to Atlanta’s Brian Snitker.

Snitker picked up 17 of 30 first-place votes to 11 for Counsell.  Counsell is the fourth Brewers manager to finish runner-up, joining Tom Trebelhorn, Phil Garner and Ron Roenicke.  No Brewer manager has ever captured the honor.

Snitker helped take the Braves from 72 wins a year ago, to 90 wins this past season.

Counsell’s Brewers won eight straight games to finish out the regular season, overtaking the Chicago Cubs for the Central Division title. [Read more…]