Brewer Daily News for March 10th: Estrada loses in WBC, Crew loses late

Good morning and welcome again to another edition of Brewer Daily News. Yesterday was a bit of a downer for most of the Milwaukee Brewer organization as losses piled up everywhere. In the World Baseball Classic, Team Mexico suffered a 10-3 loss to Team Canada with Marco Estrada in the middle of it. In the Spring Training games, the Brew Crew lost late to the Cincinnati Reds thanks to two late runs scoring in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Marco Estrada started a day after Yovani Gallardo, just like how the regular season may play out. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Estrada started for Team Mexico yesterday and was handed a loss in an ugly game. For the team, Estrada only lasted three innings and gave up four runs on seven hits while striking out two. The good news for Estrada is that he didn’t walk anyone, but that’s about it.

Justin Morneau doubled in the first inning which scored Estrada’s Milwaukee teammate Taylor Green. After Green scored, Michael Saunders hit a single that scored Joey Votto and Morneau. Chris Robinson would also single in the inning to score Saunders. However after the first inning, Estrada calmed down and was able to pitch the next two innings with some ease.

For the righty, he’s looking in 2013 to continue where he left off in his 2012 season. Estrada has been speculated to be the number two in the rotation behind Yovani Gallardo. Last season, Estrada had a 5-7 record with a 3.64 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and struck out 143 batters in 138.1 innings of work.

In the second bit of news this Sunday morning, the Brewers suffered a late loss yesterday to the Reds, thanks to RBIs by Cesar Izturis and Corky Miller in the 8th inning. For the Brew Crew, Wily Peralta started the game and gave up three runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings pitched. Travis Webb would come in for an inning of relief later on and give up one run. Johnny Hellweg would pitch 1 2/3 innings, but would be tagged with the loss as he gave up two runs on two hits while walking and striking out two.

As for Peralta’s chances on making the rotation, manager Ron Roenicke had this to say:

"“I think it’s going to come down to the end. I really can’t tell you right now. It’s too early for some of them to really see what’s happening. [The club’s goal is] to get them back to where they were last year, and some of them may be a little late in getting there. Then we’ll have to figure out what we’re going to do.” – via Brewers.com"

The Brewers offensively were powered by two hits and two RBIs from Logan Schafer, Donnie Murphy who went 3-3 and scored a run and Kentrail Davis who scored two runs and got one RBI.

Today, Chris Narveson and the Brewers will face the San Francisco Giants at 4:05 PM EST / 3:05 PM CST.