Home runs by Travis Shaw, Jesus Aguilar Not Enough as Milwaukee Brewers fall to Angels 8-6

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers played their last Cactus League game today against the Angels before heading back home to the 414 for a couple of exhibition games against the White Sox. The Cactus Crew came in with a 15-15-1 record and had a chance to end spring play with a winning record with Zach Davies on the mound.

Unfortunately Davies struggled, tossing 4.0 innings and allowing 4 earned runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Davies (who was officially named the #2 starter yesterday) ends the spring with a 5.50 ERA; neither he nor ace/Opening Day starter Junior Guerra (6.75 ERA) posted especially strong results this spring.

The Brewers have yet to announce who their #3-5 starters will be, and one of the men competing for one of those spots, Tommy Milone, also got some work in today. The left-hander stumbled in his final opportunity to make an impression on the club’s decision-makers, allowing four earned runs (and two homers) in just a lone inning of work and getting saddled with the blown save and loss. That raised his spring ERA to 9.69 in 13.0 innings of work. Milone has a non-guaranteed contract and seems like a long-shot to make the rotation at this point, so his roster spot may be in serious jeopardy.

Corey Knebel, Taylor Jungmann (2.0 IP) and Rob Scahill all posted scoreless appearances for the Milwaukee Nine as they compete for spots in Milwaukee’s 13-man bullpen.

The Brewers’ offense was lead by Travis Shaw, who hit his 4th homer of the spring in the 5th inning and had 3 RBI, and Jesus Aguilar, who clubbed his 7th Cactus League home run in the 2nd inning. Aguilar finishes his time in Arizona with a .466/.523/.897 line in 58 at-bats for a Cactus League leading 1.420 OPS. His 7 home runs ranked 2nd on the circuit behind Bryce Harper, and his 17 RBI tied for 4th. He certainly deserved the Opening Day roster spot that he was awarded yesterday.

Domingo Santana added 2 doubles for the Crew, and Eric’s Thames and Sogard both had a two-bagger apiece. Keon Broxton notched Milwaukee’s other RBI.

The Brewers complete their Cactus League schedule with a respectable 15-16-1 record, finishing 3.5 games behind the Angels as they clinched the Cactus Cup with their win today. After an off day for travel tomorrow, the Brewers will face off against the White Sox in a two-game exhibition series at Miller Park on Friday and Saturday.

Then Opening Day is on Monday!!!