Freddy Peralta nearly unhittable as Brewers beat Diamondbacks, 5-1

Box Score

It has been more than 34 years since the Milwaukee Brewers have thrown a no-hitter. That didn’t change on Friday night, but the team and starting pitcher made one of their better efforts in trying to break the no no-no streak.

Milwaukee’s offense got to work early against Brad Peacock, with Daniel Vogelbach starting the scoring on a solo home run as the second batter in the bottom of the first inning. In fact, the Brewers would score in each of the first three innings. During the second inning, a pair of walks and then a groundout by Jackie Bradley, Jr. brought in the team’s second run. In the third, a two-out double by Omar Narvaez turned into a little league home run thanks to some less than stellar defense from the DBacks.

The early cushion took some pressure of birthday boy Freddy Peralta, and allowed him to get close to doing something that no Brewer has since Juan Nieves. Peralta walked the leadoff hitter Josh Rojas to begin his outing, then retired the next 14 batters in a row, including seven strikeouts. In the fifth, a two-out walk to Josh Reddick went for naught after a punchout by Nick Ahmed to end the inning.

They say that every no-hitter needs some great defensive play to keep it intact, and Peralta got his from Luis Urias in the seventh inning. Filling in for the injured Kolten Wong at second, Urias made an incredible diving catch on a soft liner up the middle, ranging over to catch it on the shortstop side of the bag just before it could hit the ground. Christian Walker couldn’t believe it.

Peralta’s no-hit bid lasted into the eighth inning. He walked Reddick again, this time with one out, then the next batter Ahmed singled to left field off a 1-2 slider. That ended Peralta’s phenomenal start at 109 pitches, and manager Craig Counsell went to former DBack Brad Boxberger. He allowed a sac fly to Asdrubal Cabrera that broke up the shutout, but got out of the inning with the lead intact. The run was charged to Peralta, leaving his final line at 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, and 9 K.

Omar Narvaez got that run back in the bottom of the eighth by hitting an actual over-the-fence home run off Kevin Ginkel, making the score 5-1. That allowed Counsell to bring out Trevor Richards for the ninth, and he set the side down in order to close out the ballgame.

The Brewers will once again try to break their no-hitter streak on Saturday with another guy who has the stuff to be capable of such a feat — ace Brandon Woodruff. He’ll face off against Merrill Kelly, with first pitch set for 3:10 PM central.