Angels 2, Brewers 0: Bats quiet, Joba scuffles in Cactus League opener

After scoring 11 runs on Friday against college players, the Brewers found it a little more difficult to hit against professionals on Saturday, losing 2-0 to the Angels in their first Cactus League game of the 2017 season.

There was a glimmer of hope early as Latin Babe Ruth Hernan Perez led off the second inning by beating out an infield hit against Andrelton Simmons, but he also ended up being the first Brewer to be caught stealing this calendar year, getting thrown out trying to take second later in the inning by Carlos Perez.

Taylor Jungmann, trying to make the team as a reliever, came on in the bottom of the second and forced three quick groundouts.

The third inning is where things got worrisome for a couple of reasons. Orlando Arcia got hit by a pitch on an unprotected elbow in the third inning, but didn't have to leave the game earlier than expected.

In the bottom half of the third, non-roster invitee Joba Chamberlain made his Brewers debut, but got himself into a bit of trouble following a broken bat single by Kaleb Cowart and another ball hit down the line by Rey Navarro, putting runners on first and third with two outs. The first run of the game came when Ben Revere beat out a throw by Arcia to bring in Cowart. Arcia was put in a tough situation where he had to range far to his right to get to the ball, and didn't really have much of a play at any base.

Keon Broxton led off the 4th inning with a walk, then stole his way to second. He got greedy, though, and was thrown out later in the inning trying to steal third. It seems to be difficult to steal against Carlos Perez.

After Michael Blazek got through the 4th inning scoreless while allowing a hit and a walk, Carlos Torres took the mound for the next two innings, striking out four. Torres is on an accelerated schedule compared to other pitchers on the squad as he prepares for the World Baseball Classic.

Non-roster invite Ryan Webb pitched the 7th and walked two, allowing an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Ryan LaMarre following an error earlier in the inning by Garrett Cooper.

The 2-0 deficit would be too much to overcome, as the Brewers could only muster 4 hits, and only 2 others reached on walks.

Here’s the box score, for those who need to see such things.

The Brewers will hope to avoid falling too far behind in the race for the Cactus Cup on Sunday. This time, their 2:05 pm CST game against the Dodgers will be televised live on FS Wisconsin.