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Win: Bronson Arroyo (3-2)
Loss: Wily Peralta (4-2)
Save: Addison Reed (10)
HR: Paul Goldschmidt (7)
If you follow @BrewCrewBall on Twitter, you may have seen me post earlier today about the Brewers relatively rough start to May. With Wednesday's loss to the Diamondbacks, the team has now lost five of their first seven games. And they've done so by not being very good at a variety of baseball things. They haven't been able to hit, their starting pitching hasn't been as good as it was, and the bullpen has regressed a bit.
But that's a one-week stretch to start April. Every team has it's bad stretches. Good teams have bad weeks. Case in point: The 2013 Boston Red Sox. At the beginning of May last year, the Red Sox went on a dreadful run, losing 9 of 11 games. They averaged just 3.3 runs per game. They gave up 6.1 runs per game. In October, they won the World Series.
Maybe the anxiety comes from the fact that the Brewers weren't highly-considered entering the 2014 season. The Red Sox weren't really, either, heading into 2013, but I think it's a safer assumption to think the Red Sox will be good over the first base-less, punchless, mediocre Brewers, who have won one playoff series since 1982.
But the fact remains, the Brewers were never going to go 162 games without losing five of seven at some point. Or losing three or four games in a row. It'll happen. Players get in slumps. Star players get injured for a short period. Pitches don't hit spots.
But at the end of Wednesday, the Brewers will still have the most wins in all of the majors (thought they could be tied with the Rockies). The Brewers will still be multiple games ahead of the Cardinals and Reds and Pirates and Cubs for the NL Central lead. And the Brewers will heat up again. The fact that they can weather a brief period of poor play and still lead the division is a testament to just how good they have been. So, hey, be optimistic a bit. We can't get upset after every couple of losses. Not when the Brewers are still kicking dust in the faces of the rest of the division.
Anyway, yeah, the Brewers lost. Bronson Arroyo basically puppet-mastered the crud out of Milwaukee's hitters, going 7.1 innings on five hits and two walks, allowing just one unearned run. He only needed to throw 86 pitches to get to that point. Wily Peralta was pretty good, too, allowing just two runs over six innings. He did let a good amount of baserunners on, though, with 11 hits. The good news is, he didn't give up a single walk.
The Brewers did have a chance to come back in the ninth down 3-1. They got one back when Scooter Gennett doubled, moved to third on a Jonathan Lucroy line out, then came home on a Lyle Overbay sacrifice fly. But with two outs, the mighty Mark Reynolds struck out to end the game.
Carlos Gomez and Gennett were the only two Brewers to pick up multiple hits. Coincidentally, they were the only two to score for Milwaukee. Caleb Gindl also reached twice on a single and a walk.
The Brewers will get a much-needed off day on Thursday before taking on the Yankees in a three game series over the weekend.
