Brewer Daily News for March 30th: Starting rotation set, White Sox beat Crew

Good morning everyone and welcome to the weekend! In the Saturday edition of Brewer Daily News, we’ll see that the Milwaukee Brewers have now set their starting rotation, which came as a shock to some fans. In the second bit of news, last night the Brewers returned to Miller Park only to lose to the Chicago White Sox.

Tough break for Chris Narveson, but it makes sense given his injured 2012. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Manager Ron Roenicke announced yesterday that Chris Narveson will not be in the starting rotation come Opening Day, but rather in a long-relief spot. Mike Fiers will be taking Narveson’s place in the rotation. Narveson, 31, was the only left-handed pitcher in the starting rotation and the third in the entire pitching staff next to Tom Gorzelanny and Michael Gonzalez.

“We want to back off him a little bit,” Roenicke said. “He’s fine. He’ll probably ‘piggyback’ Lohse when he makes that first start.” – via Brewers.com

Narveson may see himself out of the bullpen sooner than later, but this is a precautionary tactic by Roenicke to assure that Narvy’s health is in top shape. The probable starters for the first series of the season against the Colorado Rockies will be Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta. For the Arizona Diamondbacks’ series, Kyle Lohse and Fiers are projected to start. Narveson may be thrown in there to start if needed.

Last night, the Brewers played an exhibition game in Milwaukee, which was also their second to last game of Spring Training. The Brew Crew lost 7-2 to the White Sox. Peralta went 4 1/3 innings for Milwaukee while giving up four runs (two unearned), four hits, while striking out three and walking three. Hector Santiago started for Chicago and went three perfect innings while striking out five. Jesse Crain would pitch for the White Sox later and get the win while Peralta got the loss.

The Brewers had help offensively from Ryan Braun who went 1-for-3 with a two run home run. Braun’s home run had tied the game in the fourth inning before the White Sox broke it open thanks to hits from Jeff Keppinger, Alex Rios and Adam Dunn in the fifth.

Today the Brewers will take on the White Sox once again in Miller Park to end their Spring Training at 2:10 p.m. EST / 1:10 p.m. CST.