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The Brewers pitching staff had their best performance of the spring today. Unfortunately, it came on the day where the offense was at its worst.
Led by Wily Peralta, the Brewers pitching staff had a stellar day. Peralta started the day with 5 2⁄3 innings of shutout baseball, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out three. It’s a strong performance coming at the right time, as he looks to secure a spot in the Brewers starting rotation. Meanwhile, in the bullpen, some other pitchers stepped up to secure their roles. Neftali Feliz, Jacob Barnes, and Carlos Torres each had scoreless appearances, with one baserunner allowed between the three (by Feliz).
That meant the Brewers offense only needed one run to win the game, and unfortunately, the Royals pitching staff stymied them. They allowed a total of five baserunners between three hits and two walks, and all came off of starter Ian Kennedy. The Royals bullpen pitched four perfect innings to close out the game.
On offense, Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana, and Jesus Aguilar had the three hits for the day. Jonathan Villar and Eric Thames each had a walk as well. The closest the Brewers came to scoring was in the fourth inning, when Travis Shaw hit a leadoff triple to put a runner in scoring position right away. However, he was left stranded there as Santana, Scooter Gennett, and Hernan Perez each recorded an out. Aguilar made it to third with two outs in the fifth, but couldn’t be drove in either.
The game ended up going into extra innings. After the Royals got a perfect inning from Eric Stout, Raul Mondesi hit a solo home run off of Rob Scahill to end the game and give the Royals the win.
The Brewers return to Maryvale tomorrow for three games at home to wind up the Cactus League season. Tomorrow’s game features Matt Garza facing off against Oakland starter Jharel Cotton. First pitch is at 3:05 pm.