Brewers (Patrick) vs Nationals (Irvin): 4/10/26, 6:40pm

[Frisbee Slider]

Washington sends right-hander Jake Irvin to the mound in game one. Irvin has made six career starts against Milwaukee and has dropped each of his last five decisions versus the Brewers. In 28.2 career innings against Milwaukee, he owns a 6.59 ERA, allowing 36 hits and 15 walks while striking out 22. source

Chad Patrick makes his third start of the season and his first ever against the Nationals. Patrick's strikeout rate is down and walk rate is up compared to last season. 25.2% K rate vs 17.9% K rate this year. 8% BB rate vs 10.3% BB rate this year. Patrick had an identical walk rate in April 2025 compared to April 2026, though. Only 9.1 IP, so far. source

 

[MoreTrife]

Need a bit of a cleansing after that Boston series. 

[Frisbee Slider]

I assume Sproat could work from the bullpen this weekend. Milwaukee gets to call up one more arm to replace Drohan, too.

[Playing Catch]

The silver-lining is that the Brewers are getting a good look at Sanchez at first and Lockridge in the starting lineup, but there's no hiding from the fact that replacing Chourio, Vaughn, and Turang with our bench guys is neutering the offense for the time-being.

Let's hope Chourio's IL-stint is short, and that Turang doesn't need his own IL stint. I haven't been liking all of Frelick's body language, either. He hasn't looked "right" since August of last season to me, even though he's been productive so far this season.

[markedman5]

Got to make sure to get Ashby in there………can’t have a game where he doesn’t pitch! Lol

 

[Playing Catch]

Get Ashby a nice comfy lead in the first 3 innings. Hand it over to Patrick, who goes 6. Done.

[Bulldogboy]

Why on Earth are we using an opener in April against the Nationals? Then for good measure it's Ashby? Jeez.

[jay87shot]

19 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Why on Earth are we using an opener in April against the Nationals? Then for good measure it's Ashby? Jeez.

The Nats best hitters Wood, Abrams, Garcia, and Lile are lefties and at least in the last game hit 1, 2, 4,5. As long as Patrick is comfortable coming into the game in the middle of the 2nd or 3rd inning I like the strategy. Not only does it get us in positive matchups to start the game, it also likely allows Patrick to go 5 innings and only have to pitch to that entire group of lefties 1 time.

Just because the Nats arent very good is a reason not to use the best strategy available. I would guess they will use the same things for Sproat with DL Hall (slight chance Ashby could open again if super efficient).

[Brewcrew82]

18 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Why on Earth are we using an opener in April against the Nationals? Then for good measure it's Ashby? Jeez.

This is the "win tonight" strategy in action. Nats' best hitters are all lefties, and Patrick is worse against lefties. By having an opener in front of him, you reduce the number times he has to face those guys. 

Ashby has had a day off and only pitched 2.1 innings in the last 5 days. He'll be fine for an inning or two. 

[wiguy94]

13 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

The Nats best hitters Wood, Abrams, Garcia, and Lile are lefties and at least in the last game hit 1, 2, 4,5. As long as Patrick is comfortable coming into the game in the middle of the 2nd or 3rd inning I like the strategy. Not only does it get us in positive matchups to start the game, it also likely allows Patrick to go 5 innings and only have to pitch to that entire group of lefties 1 time.

Just because the Nats arent very good is a reason not to use the best strategy available. I would guess they will use the same things for Sproat with DL Hall (slight chance Ashby could open again if super efficient).

Nats spread out the LHH a bit. Those 4 are hitting 1-3-5-7 today. They alternated L-R-L through the first 7 hitters.

[willie key]

What’s the lineup tonight.   Is it worth following or do I need to come back in a month when real players start playing

im done with the Perkins Ortiz Hamilton 160 games a year.   With a side of rengifro 

[Frisbee Slider]

Tried to think of a joke, saying lineup looks good.

[BarremlensTSSC]

36 minutes ago, willie key said:

What’s the lineup tonight.   Is it worth following or do I need to come back in a month when real players start playing

im done with the Perkins Ortiz Hamilton 160 games a year.   With a side of rengifro 

Staaaaahhhhp.

[BruisedCrew]

Cute use of the opener is a major fail. 

[BarremlensTSSC]

I'll confess that I'm tired of playing from behind.

[rccola42]

I just want someone to love me like Murphy loves Ashby

[yfinn6]

Really fun start tonight. 

[jason21nl]

Talk about a backfire.  

[HarryDoyle]

So when does the novelty of using an opener wear off?

[TURBO]

Yeah, these unis are bad.

Do we have to see them for 3 years?

Ugh!

[BarremlensTSSC]

Safe to say that didn't go as planned.  

[BarremlensTSSC]

1 minute ago, TURBO said:

Yeah, these unis are bad.

Do we have to see them for 3 years?

Ugh!

Only occasionally!

[BarremlensTSSC]

I approve of the Brewers getting free base runners.

[edfunderburk]

Sometimes Murphy & crew get too cute. No way Patrick could do worse than Ashby did in that 1/2 inning. Yuck!

I hate playing bad baseball - especially against a bad team - after playing poorly in Boston.

Wake up, Brewers!

[RobertCrawley]

WIEMER.