Article: Brewers 6, Cardinals 1: The Boys Are Back

[Jason Wang]

The Brewers took a series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in dominant fashion, establishing themselves as the team to beat in the NL Central at this early juncture.

Image courtesy of © MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL / USA TODAY NETWORK

Box Score

SP: Freddy Peralta - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K (102 pitches, 65 strikes (63.7%)
Home Runs: Willy Adames (2), Christian Yelich (1) 
Top 3 WPA: Willy Adames (.277), Freddy Peralta (.240), Christian Yelich (.111) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Rowdy Tellez (-.093), Brian Anderson (-.073), Garrett Mitchell (-.053) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Peralta And Pals Stifle Cardinals Offense 
In his second start of the season, Freddy Peralta looked excellent in his six innings of work, giving up just four hits and striking out seven Cardinal batters. His one earned run came from an RBI single by Jordan Walker, who scored Nolan Arenado. Nonetheless, he was able to escape the inning without giving up additional baserunners. His slider continued to be a deadly tool with inhuman movement.

His velocity also looked excellent, with his four-seam approaching 98 mph and even his changeup surpassing 90 mph. Of all of his fastballs, 32 were 95 mph or faster, the most pitches of that speed he’s thrown in his career.

Peter Strzelecki, Matt Bush, Hoby Milner, and Devin Williams finished off the remaining three innings with zero earned runs and two hits allowed.

Adames Comes Up Big With 3 RBI
Willy Adames had a great game, going 3-for-4 and batting in three runs for Milwaukee. He hit a double in the third inning, a home run in the fifth inning, and a single in the seventh inning. 

After a rough start in the team’s first series against the Cubs, Adames seems to have revitalized his offense in the past two series at home. His OPS for the first three games of the season was .508, compared to his OPS of 1.207 for the past six games at home.

Yelich of Yesteryear
Christian Yelich also had his best game of the season thus far, going 3-for-5 with and scoring two runs. Included was his first home run of the season in the seventh inning off of Cardinals reliever Andre Pallante.

The batted-ball data on his home run had stats that resembled his MVP season, with an exit velocity of 112 mph and a distance of 413 feet. He hit another pitch in the eighth inning with an exit velocity of 106 mph, although the steep launch angle of 44 degrees resulted in a flyout. 

What’s Next
The Brewers will ship off to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Lefty veteran Wade Miley will go up against Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen, as the team hopes to maintain their current position of having the most wins in the National League. 

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
B Wilson	0	0	12	0	0	12
Strzelecki	12	0	0	0	20	32
Milner	14	0	7	0	5	26
Guerra	0	0	0	28	0	0
Bush	15	0	18	0	29	62
Williams	9	0	0	0	14	23
Payamps	0	0	22	17	0	39
Varland	0	0	12	32	0	44

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