Brewer Daily News for September 16th: Francisco’s future, Crew tops Reds

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Monday edition of Brewer Daily News. Since his arrival to the Milwaukee Brewers, first baseman Juan Francisco has fallen off a bit which leads to questions about his future with the team. Secondly, yesterday afternoon the Brewers (65-83) beat the Cincinnati Reds (84-66), winning the series 2-1.

Juan Francisco has had some real problems at the plate this year. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Francisco, 26, and his future with the Brewers remains somewhat cloudy, but the organization still has faith in the first baseman. Recently, the Brewers announced that their recommendation for Francisco would be to play in the upcoming Dominican Winter League.

"“We talked about it a couple of weeks ago and he asked me again a couple of days ago. I think he needs to go play,” manager Ron Roenicke said. – via Brewers.com"

The team acquired him earlier this season in a trade with the Atlanta Braves. Francisco had been hitting poorly after the acquisition, but stepped it up in July and August. In this month, he has barely played and is hitting .133 in 15 at-bats.

Yesterday afternoon the Brewers were the winners in a 6-5 walk-off against the Reds. Yovani Gallardo started for Milwaukee and was absolutely pummeled, but did not receive a decision. Gallardo went six innings and gave up five runs on seven hits, three walks and struck out five.

Rookie relievers Donovan Hand and Rob Wooten both pitched a scoreless inning each while closer Jim Henderson picked up his fourth win by putting up a zero in the run column in the ninth inning.

For the Reds, Bronson Arroyo took the mound and did well, but did not factor into a decision. Arroyo pitched 6 1/3 innings and surrendered only two runs on three hits, four walks and struck out one.

Out of the Reds’ bullpen, all four relievers (Sam LeCure, Manny Parra, J.J. Hoover and Zach Duke) gave up one run a piece with Duke receiving his second loss of the season.

Caleb Gindl got the Brew Crew’s offense going in the fifth inning with a solo home run, his fourth. Jean Segura hit a two-run triple in the eighth while Jonathan Lucroy hit a sacrifice fly scoring Segura.

The big story was Sean Halton though who had an RBI in the seventh and hit the walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Today the Brewers stay home to take on the Chicago Cubs for a four game series with tonight’s game beginning at 8:10 p.m. ET / 7:10 p.m. CT. The projected starters are Edwin Jackson (8-15, 4.76 ERA) for Chicago and Wily Peralta (9-15, 4.49 ERA) for Milwaukee.