Brewer Daily News for March 18th: Braun, Lucroy on WBC, Dodgers demolish Crew

Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of Brewer Daily News. This morning, the Milwaukee Brewers are happy to see the return of both left fielder Ryan Braun and catcher Jonathan Lucroy. Yesterday afternoon, the Brewers were at the wrong end of an 11-1 rout in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy have become quite the duo in the line-up. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

As the Brewers get Braun and Lucroy back from the World Baseball Classic, both players took time to talk about their own experiences.

"“It was unbelievable — I’ve never felt any kind of energy like that ever,” Lucroy said. “It was a great experience and a great time. The energy that the Dominican crowds, the Mexican crowds, the Puerto Rican crowds had — the only thing that rivals that is the playoffs in 2011.” –via Brewers.com“It was amazing,” Braun said. “Honestly, it was one of the best baseball experiences I’ve ever had. It’s a lot of fun, it’s really special. The atmosphere far surpassed any regular-season game I’ve ever played in.” –via Brewers.com"

This was the first WBC for Lucroy and the second one for Braun. During the WBC, Lucroy played in three games and hit for .400 with one RBI, one walk and scored two runs. For Braun, he played in six games and hit .360 with one RBI, one stolen base and scored four runs.

With two weeks of Spring Training left, both men will look to fine tune themselves before the season begins on April 1st. Brewers’ fans couldn’t be more proud of the effort put forth by both individuals as Brewers and representatives for Team USA.

Yesterday, the Brewers sent out Yovani Gallardo to the mound to take on the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu in a game that would become lopsided. Gallardo pitched a short game, only two innings, and gave up three runs, five hits and struck out one. In the loss, Gallardo would get his second loss of the spring, making his record 0-2. Ryu pitched 5 2/3 innings and only allowed one run, three hits and struck out six while walking two and would get the win, improving to 1-2.

The only run Milwaukee scored came off of an Alex Gonzalez sacrifice fly that scored Carlos Gomez. For the Dodgers, Adrian Gonzalez hit two home runs and drove in six runs. Mark Ellis and Brian Cavazos-Galvez also homered in the Dodger win.

The Brewers’ (8-11) next game is this afternoon against the Cleveland Indians (13-8) at 4:05 PM EST / 3:05 PM CST. The starters for the game will be Marco Estrada for the Brewers and Ubaldo Jimenez for the Indians.