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Josh Lindblom started for the Milwaukee Brewers today against the Kansas City Royals, and he continues to post “working on stuff” type results in the spring’s early going. Lindblom told reporters that he’s trying to get more comfortable using his splitter against MLB hitters after dominating with the pitch in Korea, and he gave up a two-spot in two of his three innings pitched.
In the second, Hunter Dozier drew a one-out walk then scored on a triple by Ryan McBroom. Kyle Isbel walked, then Erick Mejia lofted a sacrifice fly to score McBroom from third. In the following frame, Bobby Witt, Jr. led off with a single then scored two batters later when Salvador Perez launched one over the fence. Lindblom allowed three hits and two walks leading to those four earned runs across 3.0 innings, though he did punch out six opposing hitters.
Those would be all the runs that Kansas City would push across in this game. Freddy Peralta looked electric across 2.2 innings, allowing a pair of hits and a walk while recording a whiff on seven of his eight outs. Non-roster invitee Hoby Milner punched out the only batter he faced, and NRI guy Brad Boxberger threw a scoreless seventh — and final — inning in this shortened ballgame.
Milwaukee’s offense came up short in this one. Manny Pina hit a solo home run in the second to put the Brewers on the board. In the third, Garrett Mitchell reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a groundout by Kolten Wong, then scored on a groundout by Avisail Garcia. Small ball! That would be if for offense as the Cactus Crew totaled only three hits for the contest.
The 4-2 loss drops Milwaukee to 6-5 on the spring. Tomorrow afternoon they’ll face the Cubs on the road at Sloan Park, with Brandon Woodruff slated to face off against Jake Arrieta. First pitch is set for 2:05 PM central.