Milwaukee Brewers: Spring Training Opener Recap

The wait finally ended earlier today as the Milwaukee Brewers began Cactus League play with a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. While the game ended in a loss, there is still baseball to talk about. Here is a look at some of the highlights from the opener:

Scooter Gennett started Cactus League play with a bang by recording a hit off of a left handed pitcher. This is of importance considering he has only 10 major league hits off of left-handers and manager Ron Roenicke has made is clear that he will get opportunities to prove that he can hit them. Later in the third inning he added a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the spring.

Each hopeful for the fifth outfield spot had contributions today. While Logan Schafer went hit-less, he showed off his arm with a tremendous outfield assist. Former Angel, Matt Long, produced at the plate by singling and showed off his speed by swiping a base. Shane Peterson added a single and scored a run late in the game. The battle for the final spot will be an intriguing one to watch.

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On the basepaths the Brewers ran into three outs. With baserunning being a struggle throughout all of 2014, that is something that will need to be cleaned up this spring.

On the mound, Kyle Lohse had a solid debut, throwing 30 pitches in 2.2 innings of work. He struck out three, gave up only one hit. In the bottom of the third he saw an inherited runner score off of Ariel Pena.

Other relievers included Will Smith, Chris Perez, Brandon Kintzler and Michael Blazek. Smith worked in and out of trouble in the fourth, while Kintzler was hurt by shaky defense to which allowed an unearned run. The best relief appearance came from Blazek. Blazek worked the final two inning of work allowing just one hit while striking out two.

They failed to come out on top, but there is nothing like having Brewers baseball back!

Up Next:

The Brewers have their home opener tomorrow at 3:05 CST, at Maryvale Baseball Park. Matt Garza will be on the mound against the 18-year-old super-prospect, Julio Urias. Garza has generally been a pitcher known to get his work in and focused on command instead of results. With a career 4.97 spring ERA the most important part of every one of his starts will be coming out healthy and able to make his next start. With the hard-throwing Urias on the mound it will again be interesting to see what Roenicke plans to do with both Gennett and Adam Lind.

Next: Milwaukee Brewers' Matt Long Could Have 2015 Impact