Rough Pitching Dooms Brewers In 7-4 Loss To Canada

W: Andrew Albers
L: Mike Gonzalez
S: John Axford

HR: Khris Davis, Michael Saunders

Box Score

Even in exhibition play against a WBC team, when you can't throw strikes it's difficult to win. Seven Brewer pitchers combined to allow ten walks today in a 7-4 loss to Canada.

Chris Narveson had an encouraging outing today, working two clean innings before running into trouble in the third and struggling to throw strikes. He pitched 2.2 innings and allowed a run on three hits, walking two and striking out one.

The Brewers, meanwhile, took a 2-1 lead in the third when Norichika Aoki, Jean Segura, Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez had four consecutive hits. They probably missed an opportunity to score even more when Aoki was thrown out trying to steal third with one out. That was the only flaw in his day, as he went 1-for-1 with a pair of walks and a steal.

Wily Peralta followed Narveson to the mound today and took a step backwards in his effort to win a spot in the Opening Day rotation. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks over just two innings, allowing a home run, committing a throwing error and throwing a wild pitch over Brett Lawrie's head.

The Brewers retook the lead in the seventh but gave it back in the eighth when another reliever couldn't throw strikes: Mike Gonzalez, in his second outing as a Brewer, allowed the first four batters he faced to reach and all four came around to score.

Meanwhile, Jim Henderson and John Axford each pitched scoreless innings for Canada, and Taylor Green went 0-for-1 as a defensive replacement.

The Brewers return to "official" Cactus League play tomorrow when they travel to Peoria to take on the Mariners.