Brewers 6, Cubs 5: Caratini Caps Off Competitive Contest

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: Freddy Peralta - 5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, 104 pitches, 64 strikes (61.5%)
Home Runs: Christian Yelich (11), Victor Caratini (5)
Top 3 WPA: Christian Yelich (.315), Victor Caratini (.299), Joel Payamps (.163) 
Bottom 3 WPA: J.C. Mejia (-.259), Brian Anderson (-.164), Brice Turang (-.073) 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Peralta Battles For 10 Strikeouts
Like most of his starts this season, Freddy Peralta gave up a few hits and a few earned runs on his way to double digit strikeouts. In all fairness, he gave up just one earned run in his first five innings, the result of back-to-back doubles by Christopher Morel and Cody Bellinger in the second inning.

In the sixth inning, a walk by Seiya Suzuki paired with a Cody Bellinger home run and a pitch count over 100 signaled that it was time to make a call to the bullpen.  

Despite giving up some hard contact, Freddy Peralta’s performance was dazzling, flashing some phenomenal stuff and touching up to 98.7 mph with his four-seam fastball.

Peralta is still performing worse than his career average, posting a 4.70 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP vs. his average figures of 3.98 and 1.16. 

Mejia Makes a Boo-Boo, Payamps Saves The Day
A team effort from Bryse Wilson, Elvis Peguero, J.C. Mejia, and Joel Payamps combined to pitch the final 3.2 innings of the game following Peralta’s departure from the mound.

While Wilson and Peguero were excellent, conceding no baserunners and striking out two of their three assigned batters, J.C. Mejia got himself into hot water. After getting a double play, he gave up a single to Cody Bellinger and a game-tying home run to Yan Gomes, a shot that brought the score to 5-5.

Despite striking out Jared Young in the very next at-bat, the Cubs were right back in the game with a 41.8% chance to win the game. Luckily, Joel Payamps was lights out, giving up just a single to Trey Mancini before retiring the next three Cubs in order to close out the game.

It’s Milwaukee’s Turn To Squeak Away With The Win
After going scoreless for the first half, the Brewers finally started to find their swings in the fifth inning, putting up four runs. Following a single and a walk to put Raimel Tapia and Victor Caratini on first and second, Joey Wiemer’s single sent Tapia home to tie the game at 1-1.

To continue the scoring fun and his own redemption arc as of late, Christian Yelich hit a three-run blast to left field, scoring three runs and giving us a glimpse of the old Yelich we all know and love.

Yelich was in the spotlight again in the seventh inning, walking, stealing second base, advancing to third from a throwing error by catcher Yan Gomes, and finally coming home after a Willy Adames sacrifice fly.

But it was Victor Caratini who would strike the final blow.  After the Chicago Cubs tied it up in the eighth inning, he hit a clutch home run to right field, giving the Brewers a 6-5 lead they would maintain until the last pitch.

What’s Next? 
Continuing their tour of divisional rivals, the Brewers will host the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of a crucial six-game set composed of two, three-game series. Corbin Burnes will face Andrew Abbott, a lights-out leftie with a 1.21 ERA over 37.1 innings pitched. And no, the Brewers still have not improved their hitting against lefty pitching and are still the worst in MLB (.661 OPS).

This series will definitely cause some movement within the division as the Brewers are currently 2.0 games behind Cincinnati and 6.0 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

Postgame Interviews

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