Freddy Peralta's history-making start overshadowed by another frustrating loss

Freddy Peralta is quickly cementing himself as a Milwaukee Brewer great, if he didn't already hold that title. The Brewers ace collected his 1,000th career strikeout during his Monday night start against the Cleveland Guardians. He joins Brewers legends Teddy Higuera, Ben Sheets, and Yovani Gallardo as the only pitchers in Brewers history to reach the impressive milestone.

Throughout the game, Brewers fans were reminded just how good Peralta has been for the Crew since debuting with the team almost seven years ago to the day. As displayed on the graphic that was shown throughout the broadcast, Peralta now sits just 225 strikeouts away from Gallardo's franchise record.

Assuming the Brewers pick up Peralta's club option for the 2026 season (which they would be crazy not to), the only thing seemingly preventing Peralta from setting a new Brewers record is his health. He has never collected less than 195 strikeouts in a full season as a starting pitcher when he has managed to stay off the injured list. If he maintains that pace, as he has through the first quarter of the 2025 season, Peralta would easily pass Gallardo's impressive mark.

Despite a strong showing from Peralta, missed opportunities and avoidable mistakes cost the Brewers another win

Peralta's final line does not reflect how well he pitched. All three "earned" runs that he allowed came in the bottom of the fourth on one preventable play. With two outs, Peralta loaded the bases with a walk to Guardians catcher Bo Naylor. The next batter, shortstop Gabriel Arias, skied a fly ball to center that should have been caught, but a bad route and a misplay by Brewers' center fielder Jackson Chourio led to the ball dropping. All three runs scored, the fly ball counted as a double, and with one swing of the bat, the Brewers’ hopes of winning the series opener seemingly dissipated.

However, Chourio can't solely be blamed for tonight's loss. The offense did nothing as well. The Brewers were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Runs have been hard to come by for the Brewers as of late, which has made their recent defensive miscues even worse.

If there's a silver lining in this one, it's the fact that the Brewers got through the game using just Bryan Hudson and Elvis Peguero out of the bullpen, meaning their go-to relievers got another day off. However, that only matters if the team can build a lead before turning to their bullpen, which has seldom been the case during their current road trip.

Whether it's getting healthy, finding their edge, or just playing cleaner baseball, the Brewers need something to change quickly.