ST Games 22 & 23 Recap: Peralta’s Strong Start, 9th Inning Rally

Brewers’ fans were concerned about Wily Peralta being announced as the Opening Day Starter as he had a rough 2015 season (4.72 ERA) along with not having the shiniest Spring Training (11.70 ERA) until Thursday. After many injury concerns, the Brewers seemed pretty down and had to go without Jimmy Nelson on Friday. Both results gave some type of uplifting for fans.

In the Brewers ST game on Thursday, Peralta went 6 IP, 1 ER, and 3 Ks. The only earned run came off the big bat of the Royals’ Eric Hosmer. After Peralta was named Opening Day starter, Brewers’ fans had concerns why he was chosen. But, his start Thursday might’ve made not only fans relax, but Peralta himself.

“I knew this one I had to go in and really pitch – not try to work on anything, not mess around much. I think this was one I really had to step up and perform well,” Peralta said. “Being able to do that today, I was really able to go out there and execute the pitches.”

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The offense responded well as innings 4-6, they got all 9 of their runs. 3 home runs were launched including Chris Carter’s 3-run line-drive to left field in the bottom of the 5th. For Carter, it was his 4th HR and 10th RBI of ST. Martin Maldonado matched his teammate with a 3-run HR an inning before as it was more than enough runs as the Brewers took the win 9-2.

On Friday, the Brewers went on the road to play the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park. With Nelson out due to illness, the Brewers started relief pitcher Michael Blazek. Although, the game was smooth sailing for awhile, the Cubs went off on Blaine Boyer in the bottom of the 6th and until the 9th, it seemed like that’d be it for the Brewers.

Being down 4-0, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and others rallied to put the Brewers up 5-4 in the top of the 9th. His double brought in Eric Young Jr. and Yadiel Rivera as Clayton Richard gave up all 5 runs.

“(Nieuwenhuis) has struggled a little bit against left-handers but that was a big at-bat,” said manager Craig Counsell. “It was a nice win. They played it out right until the end. They threw the ball really good against us but we got one of their guys.”

The Brewers took the win 5-4 and are now 12-10-1 in Cactus League play.

On Saturday, the Brewers will face the Arizona Diamondbacks at Maryvale Baseball Park at 3:05 CDT. The Brewers will start Matt Garza who comes in with a 3.95 ERA in 13.2 IP and Patrick Corbin comes in with a 0.63 ERA in 14.1 IP. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin.