Brewers lose sloppy to Padres, 9-0

The Milwaukee Brewers and the San Diego Padres took to the diamond at Peoria Stadium in Peoria, Arizona this afternoon. Brett Anderson was scheduled to make the start, but was scratched due to the flu. Instead Shelby Miller took the hill.

Miller actually looked pretty good in this one. He completed two innings of scoreless work while striking out three. David Phelps did not fare as well. He walked two and gave up six runs without getting an out in the bottom of the third. He was not helped by his defense as Omar Narvaez had a pass ball and Keston Hiura and Phelps committed errors. In fact, Hiura was credited with two errors.

Ivan Castillo reached on the error by Phelps to lead off the third. Trent Grisham sent Castillo to third base with a single to right. Tommy Pham followed that up with a walk to load the bases. A fielding and throwing error by Hiura allowed Castillo and Grisham to score. Manny Machado reached base and Pham scampered to third. Eric Hosmer followed with a single to left field that scored Pham.

Phelps walked the bases loaded again when he issued a free pass to Brian Dozier. The second base on balls issued by Phelps necessitated a pitching change. Matt Hardy replaced him and immediately got Wil Meyers to ground to Eric Sogard at third base. Sogard gunned Machado down at home, and the Brewers had their first out of the inning.

With Brewer Nation thinking that a possibility might exist of Hardy limiting the damage, he delivered a good old fashioned batting practice fastball that Abraham Almonte deposited over the 410 foot sign in centerfield for a grand slam. The Brewers were down 7-0 just like that.

The Padres tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth. Wil Myers launched another fastball over the heart of the plate for a home run over the centerfield wall. After five innings the score was 8-0

Looking to take a commanding lead in their quest for the Cactus League Championship, the Padres kept the pedal to the metal. With two outs in the inning, Ethan Small issued back-to-back walks to Gabriel Arias and Franchy Cordero. Pinch-hitter Jason Vosler next doubled to score Arias to make it 9-0, Padres.

Unsurprisingly the Brewers did not mount a comeback in this one. The fielding in the third inning was atrocious. The bats also failed to show up, as Milwaukee hitters were only able to muster one hit. On a good note, Zack Brown pitched well. He was able to hold the Padres scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings, striking out four in the process. I think there was some other news as well that might help Brewer Nation deal with today’s loss.

The Brewers are in action again tomorrow afternoon. They will take on the Chicago White Sox. Brandon Woodruff will take the hill for Milwaukee, and Dylan Cease will do the same for the White Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 CT. The game can be heard on 94.5 ESPN and seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin.