MLB Trade Rumors By Leo Morgenstern | May 5 Peralta ranks among the top five qualified NL starters in both innings pitched (45 1/3) and ERA (2.18) His 2.94 xERA (eighth among NL starters) is similarly impressive while his 3.57 SIERA and 3.45 FIP suggest he’ll continue to deliver the kind of reliable performance the Brewers have come to expect The wide gap between his .351 wOBA and .319 xwOBA suggests he’s due for some regression both of those numbers represent an improvement over his .292 wOBA and .278 xwOBA from 2024 He’s making more contact and hitting the ball harder than he did in his first two seasons The early results have been a good reminder of why he was once a first-round pick and a consensus top-50 prospect in the game and the Brewers will hope he can pick up where he left off in his next start An off-day on Thursday will allow him some extra rest before his next scheduled start against the Rays on Saturday Defensive metrics like DRS and OAA haven’t been thrilled with Frelick’s performance thus far in 2025 but he is only one year removed from a Gold Glove-winning season The Brewers’ outfield depth is already being tested and losing Frelick would make that problem substantially worse The righty has a 5.23 ERA and a 5.15 FIP in 36 games (19 starts) and 139 1/3 innings at Triple-A since joining the Brewers organization Milwaukee Brewers Notes Evan McKendry Freddy Peralta Sal Frelick 4 hours ago Freddy Frelick found food on da floor and ate it 4 hours ago Name the last 3 GOOD hitters the Brewers have drafted and developed… I’ll define good as having at least 2 seasons with an OPS+ of 120 or higher 4 hours ago Of course these guys had their best OPS+ years on other teams 3 hours ago 3 hours ago I just stopped going back after 12 years or so 3 hours ago and Jackson Chourio were very close to 120 last year and will hopefully improve with more experience its been a while since Prince/Braun/Hart/Weeks 2 hours ago Turan and Frelick were not close to 120 last year 2 hours ago 2 hours ago 1 hour ago Sooo who have been their best homegrown middle infielders catchers and center fielders in the last 10-15 years I wouldn’t get overly excited about Turang I would say his ceiling is probably similar to Nico Hoerner He still needs to improve his plate approach 53 mins ago 4 mins ago Best Brewers homegrown catcher over the 15 years is probably Lucroy I’d include both Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez in this group too Segura’s rookie season was with the Brewers and Gomez didn’t do much until he got to Milwaukee 4 hours ago Oh cool White Sox will probably have 3 ex Brewers in there starting rotation soon 4 hours ago they will have AAA caliber starting pitching 4 hours ago idu why woody is still on rehab assignment threw 5+ effective innings in his last start and within a mph of previous velocity 4 hours ago 4 hours ago 3 hours ago The guy spent 2 innings with the TV crew on Saturday Night. might want to go listen to Him for answers Log in Register MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball Register Brewers predictions expect Brice Turang to find his way around the bases Brice Turang has been one of the most consistent hitters in baseball through the first chunk of the season My Astros vs. Brewers predictions expect Turang’s success at the plate to continue, and for him to serve as a catalyst in an advantageous matchup against Ronel Blanco. Let’s take a closer look at my MLB picks for May 5 My Astros vs Brewers best bet: Brice Turang Over 0.5 runs (+112 at Caesars) Brice Turang is a hit machine recording at least one knock in a whopping 79% of his games this season His hit rate increases to an unbelievable 88% in Milwaukee Turang is especially dominant against right-handed pitchers He’s sporting a .346 batting average vs and his underlying metrics are equally as impressive His barrel rate of 12.3% is nearly double the average, his 84% contact rate is well above league average, and a xwOBA of .403 leads all Milwaukee Brewers hitters Also working in Turang’s favor: Ronel Blanco is a completely different pitcher against left-handed batters. Blanco has held righties to a .180 average this season but lefties — like Turang — have rung him up for a .263 average struck out fewer than 10% of opposing hitters Whether Turang continues his hit parade or earns a free pass against a pitcher with severe walk issues vs he’s likely to get on base a time or two. With the likes of William Contreras and Christian Yelich batting right behind Turang Brice Turang Over 0.5 runsChristian Yelich Over 0.5 hitsRonel Blanco Under 5.5 strikeouts Yelich is only hitting .219 against right-handed pitchers this season but the numbers suggest he deserves a lot more more than 10% higher than the league average Yelich has also posted a strong .372 xwOBA and an expected batting average of .269 That will change if he continues to put good wood on it. Yelich is a very strong hitter at home — last season he hit safely in 76% of games — and the splits favor him in this matchup Look for his luck to change against Blanco we’re targeting Blanco’s Under in the strikeout market He went over his strikeout line in just 29% of road games last year and he’s piled up only four Ks through two road dates this year and the Brewers are likely to throw four his way The Brewers also have some righties in their lineup — notably Contreras and Joey Ortiz — who are good at working pitch counts and are striking out well below league-average rates. There aren’t many easy punchouts for Blanco in this lineup Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies. Sign up for a Caesars account — using our exclusive promo code BASEBALLDYW — and get 10x profit boost tokens worth 100% each Register now to collect your Double your winning tokens, or learn more with our comprehensive Caesars Sportsbook review Odds courtesy of Caesars Brice Turang has scored six runs over his last six home games. Find more MLB betting trends for Astros vs Not intended for use in MA.Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links Todd Cordell is a data-driven betting analyst He uses numbers to help identify value across a wide variety of sports Todd has served as a betting analyst in the public sphere for many years most recently with theScore covering the NHL and MLB Todd stays busy analyzing the New Jersey Devils with a fine-tooth comb for InfernalAccess Todd attended Sheridan College and graduated in 2014 with a diploma in print journalism Brewers set to take on former division foe in interleague series to wrap up homestand In a matchup of former NL Central foes, the Milwaukee Brewers are set to wrap up their six-game homestand with a three-game set against the Houston Astros The Brewers are 17-18 this year after dropping two of three to the Cubs over the weekend while the Astros sit at 17-16 after dropping two of three to the White Sox in Chicago Milwaukee’s injuries remain primarily on the pitching side with Brandon Woodruff and Aaron Ashby the closest to returning Outfielders Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins are also shelved while Sal Frelick could join them depending on the result of an MRI as he was pulled with left knee discomfort in the series finale Sunday in Milwaukee Houston’s injuries are also primarily on the pitching side Cristian Javier and Luis Garcia are both recovering from Tommy John surgery France is out for most of the season with a right shoulder injury and Forrest Whitley could all return in the coming weeks Yordan Alvarez is currently listed as day to day with hand inflammation after missing Saturday and Sunday’s games and outfielders Pedro León and Taylor Trammell are both on the IL with leg injuries The Brewers' offense went stagnant for a few days to begin May but they snuck away with a 4-0 win on Sunday Jackson Chourio is hitting .255/.268/.470 with six homers Brice Turang remains a bright spot in the lineup Rhys Hoskins and William Contreras are also hitting right around .250 so far a .238/.316/.356 line (.672 OPS ranks 23rd) Four players are tied for the team lead with four homers while only Jake Meyers (.303/.357/.449) is hitting over .300 among regulars Christian Walker is hitting .200/.273/.350 I think that’s below average for just about all of them so hopefully they don’t heat up while in town a .243/.314/.370 line (.684 OPS ranks 19th) The Brewers’ bullpen combination of Jared Koenig and Trevor Megill has kept them close in plenty of games this year allowing just one earned run across 12 1⁄3 innings Anderson leads all relievers with 20 strikeouts across 19 innings including a 3.88 starter ERA (13th) and a 4.87 reliever ERA (27th) They rank 16th with 281 strikeouts over 306 innings All four of those guys have an ERA between 1.69 and 1.93 over a total of 60 2⁄3 innings Abreu and Hader are tied for the lead with 20 strikeouts out of the bullpen including a 3.67 starter ERA (ninth) and a 2.84 reliever ERA (fourth) They rank eighth with 303 strikeouts over 290 2⁄3 innings Myers has not had a great start to his 2025 After missing a good chunk of spring training and most of the first month of the season he’s now made three appearances (two starts) After going four innings and allowing two runs in his season debut against the Giants he went just two innings against the White Sox before being pulled with two earned runs He pitched a scoreless inning in relief on Friday against the Cubs but returns to the rotation for his scheduled spot Monday This is Myers’ first career start against Houston pitching to a 2.80 ERA with 166 strikeouts across 167 1⁄3 innings though he outpaced his 4.15 FIP by a wide margin allowing 16 runs and striking out 26 over 28 1⁄3 innings across six starts He’s allowed at least three runs in four of his six starts including his last time out against the Tigers when he allowed three runs over five frames This is Blanco’s first career start against Milwaukee Milwaukee’s rookie righty has been a bright spot thus far making seven appearances (six starts) spanning 31 1⁄3 innings He’s struck out 26 and allowed 10 runs on 29 hits and 11 walks though he hasn’t been particularly bad in any of them he allowed three runs on six hits with four strikeouts over 5 2⁄3 innings this is Patrick’s first career start against the Astros acquired with Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith in the Kyle Tucker trade has had a solid start to his Houston tenure he’s spanned 28 innings with 26 strikeouts and 12 runs allowed His last start came back on April 25 against the Royals allowing two runs on eight hits and just one strikeout across five innings The former Cub has made five appearances (one start) against the Brewers with a 1.86 ERA and 14 strikeouts over 9 2⁄3 innings May 7 @ 12:10 p.m.: Quinn Priester (5.79 ERA Priester had a solid start to his Brewers career allowing just three runs over his first three starts spanning 14 innings In his last two appearances against the Cardinals and Cubs He allowed five runs in five innings against St Louis before allowing seven runs in 4 1⁄3 innings against Chicago though all of those runs came in his first inning of work This marks Priester’s first career start against Houston an All-Star in 2022 and 2023 and a recipient of votes for AL Cy Young in four of the last five seasons is having his worst year since early in his career striking out 37 while allowing 20 runs on 37 hits and 15 walks He’s had two scoreless starts against the Mets and Giants (totaling 13 innings) but he’s allowed at least two runs in each of his other five starts His last start was a four-run outing against the White Sox as he took the loss but struck out six over five frames this is Valdez’s first career start against Milwaukee May 5: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and MLB.TV (out-of-market viewers); listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network May 6: FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and MLB.TV (out-of-market viewers); listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network and MLB.TV (out-of-market viewers); listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network The perennial World Series contenders from Houston have started slow the last couple of years but you can count on them to make another postseason push in 2025 This is another tough home test for the Brewers but I think they wrap up the homestand at 3-3 as they take two of three from the Astros The Milwaukee Brewers host the Houston Astros on May 5 First pitch from American Family Field is scheduled for 7:40 p.m The Astros dropped a rain-shortened game to the Chicago White Sox so they'll look to prevent a losing skid against the Milwaukee Brewers Find my MLB betting preview and Astros vs Brewers prediction below Many people had Milwaukee winning the NL Central despite serious rotation question marks the most “reliable” option was Tobias Myers The Brewers are hoping the second-year starter Myers was among the best rookie starters in MLB last year Although Myers doesn’t have game-changing stuff likely just for some extra work after a pair of uninspiring starts It’s tough to take much from Myers’s underlying numbers since he’s thrown just seven innings in two starts He enters with a 5.14 ERA with a 3.86 xERA We’ll see which of the numbers tells the actual tale The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and Myers will eventually settle in the mid to high 4-era department On the offensive end, it’s been a shocking struggle for the Brewers. They rank 18th in MLB with a 93 wRC+ since April 15th It’s not like the Brewers swing and miss a lot or have poor plate patience Milwaukee ranks 3rd in strikeout rate in that span and seventh in walk rate Look no further than the 11 homers in the last 17 games. That’s one of the worst marks in MLB, and the hitters who are supposed to provide the power, Christian Yelich, William Contreras, and Jackson Chourio have gone yard just three times in those 17 games That'll need to change for the Brewers to figure things out It's a new era for the Houston Astros as Alex Bregman is hitting homers over the Green Monster and Kyle Tucker is fighting the ivy for fly balls at Wrigley the Astros aren't to be taken lightly which is the start of what could be an elite offense The sudden surge in hitting has come with Yordan Alvarez hitting below .200 and Jose Altuve posting a wRC+ below 80 That clearly won't last given the pedigree of Altuve Worth noting that Alvarez didn't play in the last two games with right-hand inflammation but could return on Monday Ronel Blanco, similar to Myers, shone in 2024 in his full season as an MLB starter. Blanco finished the year with a 2.80 ERA, with all his expected numbers hovering around the 4.00 range. This year, Blanco has pivoted from lucky to unlucky. Entering Monday, Blanco has an ugly 5.08 ERA with a more palatable 3.47 xERA. If Blanco wants to turn the tide, it begins with getting ahead in counts and cutting down his ugly 4.46 BB/9. When a pitcher fails to get ahead in counts, it also leads to throwing more hittable pitches to get back in the count. That shows in Blanco's rough 1.53 HR/9, but the Brewers don't hit homers, so that point could prove moot. I like the Astros here. I trust Blanco way more than Myers, who the Brewers can't be optimistic about, given his brutal start to 2025. If Myers can't get past five innings again, it'll put tons of pressure on Milwaukee's bullpen to be perfect, and it has the third-worst bullpen ERA in MLB. In comparison, the Astros are fourth in bullpen ERA, so that's a huge advantage for them. I'll take the slight underdog here, who has the better starter, lineup, and pen. Pick: Astros Moneyline (-105; play to -130) While both pitchers enter the game with a 5+ ERA, I'll opt not to bet the total. This site .css-115lfch{color:var(--tan-text-link);}contains commercial content. We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. The content on this page is for informational purposes only. Action Network makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the information given or the outcome of any game or event. Copyright 2025 © Action Network Inc, All Rights Reserved.Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | AdChoices DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting This site contains commercial content. Disclosure Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler there was little drama in the final moments as the winner pulled away from Journalism down the stretch there’s a reigning division champion that will need to find a similar spark in order to keep National League Central from turning into the same thing The Brewers were handed a 6-2 loss by the Chicago Cubs on May 3, the second convincing victory from the division’s first-place club in as many nights, thanks to a three-homer barrage against starting pitcher José Quintana. Milwaukee dropped its third consecutive game, including an 8-0 loss to the White Sox to begin the streak although there is still plenty of season left While the Cubs are a team brimming with confidence “It seems like we've misplaced our edge a little bit,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said “Right now,” said Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins The only silver lining streaming from the Brewers’ clubhouse following the loss that dropped them to 16-18 and five games back in the Central is that baseball is a different kind of race than a two-minute sprint around the mud “We don't have the confidence,”we’re not playing with confidence,” Murphy said The reality is that the Brewers didn’t just now run into some obstacles on the track There was the treacherous opening weekend in New York then an 11-day road trip at the end of April where things turned south Murphy sent multiple messages to his club on the trip then by benching two position players and finally by pulling his starter after two clunky innings The fruits of those conversations aren’t quite yet visible “Confidence takes a hit when skids like this happen whether you seem to be doing the right thing and the ball’s not bouncing your way or you’re getting flat-out beat,” said Hoskins who provided the Brewers’ third home run in their last 13 games with a solo blast to cut the deficit to 5-2 in the fifth It would be Milwaukee’s only base runner until a Brice Turang broken-bat infield single to lead off the ninth “I think you could peg that right now,” Hoskins said I just think those two things go together.”  it wasn’t a young player lacking confidence that was burned but rather Quintana who had allowed all of three runs through four starts this season coming in Chicago’s vaunted offense burned him for six runs including three on a Pete Crow-Armstrong home run in the fourth to give the Cubs the lead “I think you give credit to Armstrong,” Quintana said are otherwise dealing with what the manager seems to be diagnosing as a crisis of confidence Any answers that are going to come will have to be from within whose OPS hasn’t risen north of .565 since opening day and currently sits at .464 after three pop-ups to first base in three at-bats Saturday who’s yet to find his slugging at the plate “We’re just trying to bob and weave and stay alive,” Murphy said That’s certainly far from a vote of confidence but there is hope in the Brewers’ future prospects once the beleaguered pitching staff reaches full health “We’re a month-plus into the season,” Murphy said before the game “I’m not discarding how poorly we’ve executed and how poorly some of our replacement players have done We’re going to get healthy and we’re going to have a better shot Simply surviving is beginning to look like a daunting task And that’s as much in part due to the Cubs’ roster as it is the Brewers’ “They went out this off-season and shored up the areas they felt they needed to who homered off Quintana in the fifth inning dominates offensively with an ease that’s almost boring Carson Kelly has turned out to be a godsend of a signing for two years and $11.5 million – more than the Brewers committed to free agents altogether last winter who Milwaukee let go by declining his club option landed with the Cubs and has been a critical piece in stabilizing an injured rotation Then there’s the development of Crow-Armstrong who’s gone from completely overmatched rookie to legitimate MVP candidate in the span of a year and you can easily see why the Cubs are the clear-cut team to beat in the division at this point “They’re a tremendous ball club right now and it doesn't look like they’re going to slow down,” Murphy said There’s currently a chasm between the clubs the Brewers can’t concern themselves too greatly with what’s going on 90 miles to the south It’s not like a mechanical tweak or another post-loss speech can just elicit a spark out of thin air “Like when you don't feel good about something in your life then you gotta maybe take somebody else's advice or prepare so much that something happens to give it back.” There is still time to find what’s missing But the Brewers can’t simply cling onto that line too much longer if they want to catch the club out front that may not only be a pace setter but also the fastest horse but I don’t want to just fall into that because at some point it’s not early,” Hoskins said “But we have a lot of baseball to be played I think because of the talent in this room there’s no reason why we won’t find ourselves where we want to be come the end of summer.” Brewers lineupJackson Chourio CFBrice Turang 2BWilliam Contreras CChristian Yelich DHRhys Hoskins 1BSal Frelick RFIsaac Collins LFJoey Ortiz SSCaleb Durbin 3BCubs lineupIan Happ LFKyle Tucker RFSeiya Suzuki DHCarson Kelly CJustin Turner 1BNico Hoerner 2BPete Crow-Armstrong CFDansby Swanson SSJon Berti 3BBrewers scheduleBrewers at Cubs Shota Imanaga described his injury as being located in the front of the thigh, saying it was “different from Pittsburgh.” pic.twitter.com/rVw4URgY7P Concern mounts for Cubs' rotation after Imanaga's exit vs MILWAUKEE -- Shota Imanaga hustled off the mound and headed to first base in the sixth inning on Sunday trying to record a much-needed out for the Cubs the lefty walked off the field with an apparent leg injury creating concern for a Chicago rotation that has already endured setbacks Imanaga grabbed at the back of his left leg after covering first on a fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich. The runner was safe, paving the way for a four-run outburst for the Brewers that immediately followed Imanaga’s exit and sent Chicago to a 4-0 loss you don’t want that to happen to anyone,” Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker said “He’s had a really good year to start off this year we’d like to have him continue to go back out there.” Imanaga was diagnosed with a left hamstring strain and is set to undergo imaging to determine the extent of the injury Counsell was not ready to speculate about the likelihood of Imanaga landing on the injured list Losing Imanaga for any length of time would be another blow for the staff His six-inning performance on Sunday for the I-Cubs gave him a 1.24 ERA with 33 strikeouts 13 walks and 12 hits allowed in six outings (34 1/3 innings) yet,” Counsell said of discussing Horton as a potential option In his previous start on Tuesday, Imanaga exited in the sixth inning against the Pirates due to what the team described as “leg cramps” in both quadriceps The issue was not deemed serious and the 31-year-old lefty remained on his regular schedule to make the start on Sunday against the rival Brewers Imanaga said there were no issues in the lead-up to the outing in Milwaukee my body physically has felt really good,” Imanaga said via his interpreter So there was no sign for the back of my leg before the game or anything like that Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball Imanaga was in the midst of a strong performance before the latest leg injury flared The Cubs’ lefty held Milwaukee’s lineup off the board for the first five innings but a leadoff single to Jackson Chourio in the sixth sparked a rally Imanaga issued a walk to William Contreras Shota Imanaga described his injury as being located in the front of the thigh, saying it was “different from Pittsburgh.” pic.twitter.com/rVw4URgY7P Yelich chopped a splitter from Imanaga to the right side of the infield where first baseman Michael Busch gloved the grounder for a would-be double play Shortstop Dansby Swanson received the throw and got the initial out at second who pulled up on the run before positioning himself at the bag Imanaga promptly motioned to the dugout and was soon on his way out of the game Milwaukee then struck for four runs against reliever Julian Merryweather to close the book on Imanaga’s line The left-hander was charged with two runs in the outing giving him a 2.82 ERA in his eight outings for the North Siders this season “He’s never had any lower-body muscle strains,” Counsell said “So he’s a little unsure of what the feeling means we’ll just get it checked out [Monday] and go from there.” Daz Cameron was on a heater, as they say, at Class AAA Nashville when he was added to the Milwaukee Brewers' roster last weekend in St From there it was immediately into the freezer for the outfielder who was added to provide depth after Garrett Mitchell was sidelined by a left oblique strain Thus, Cameron was 0 for 4 with a walk in four games until Sunday afternoon, May 4, when he delivered a key run-scoring single as part of a game-turning sixth inning against the Chicago Cubs at American Family Field "I was just talking to our people about it," said manager Pat Murphy, whose team went on to win, 4-0 "This kid's going so good at Triple-A and we're catching him at a really good time But is it fair to him to sit him and bring him off the bench "But (Isaac) Collins is playing so well defensively and offensively he's getting the chance to play for the first time BOX SCORE: Brewers 4, Cubs 0 Cameron started the day on the bench but was pressed into action in the fourth inning after Sal Frelick was lifted with an injury Cameron flew out his first time up before coming through in the sixth His opportunity came with the Brewers nursing a slim 1-0 lead which came courtesy a Julian Merryweather wild pitch immediately after Shota Imanaga – who had dominated up to that point – strained his left hamstring covering first base and had to be removed from the game Merryweather went on to intentionally walked Rhys Hoskins to put two on with two outs for Cameron who sent an 0-1 slider to right that scored Christian Yelich making it 2-0 while also keeping the line moving Cameron stole second and then he was able to trot home from there after Durbin lined a hustle double to center that made it 4-0 "It's tough," Cameron said of being ready to play off the bench "The routine has to be done before the game to continue to prepare so when my name is called I'm prepared to go face the pitcher that's on the mound "Hitting in the cage between innings so that I can come through clutch and be able to perform to the best of my ability and help get a win for the team on that day." Making the moment even sweeter was the fact Cameron's father, Mike, a former Brewers centerfielder To see a convincing victory was just as cool – and necessary – for Murphy and the Brewers "That's the kind of victory that we've got to have," said Murphy left the game with what the team termed as left knee discomfort that first cropped up during his lone at-bat in the second inning "We're getting it checked out right now," Murphy said after the game the Brewers can ill afford to lose Frelick for any length of time Cameron's role will suddenly expand with Milwaukee's alignment likely to be Collins in left Jackson Chourio in center and Cameron in right then Daz will probably get more of a chance," Murphy said Cameron is just seeking an opportunity to be a regular contributor His professional career began with immense promise after he was taken 37th overall out of high school in the 2015 draft Cameron is playing for his fourth organization and would like to grab a foothold after playing a career-high 66 games for the A's in 2024 "Understand there's going to be times where there are going to days where you're going to win and days where you're going to lose Staying together as a team is most important It was at least mildly curious when Murphy lifted Freddy Peralta after six innings with his pitch count at only 89 the skipper explained afterward – Peralta tweaked his right groin in the midst of an at-bat against Ian Happ at the start of the sixth "But he's got good strength; the trainers checked him out was in reference to the absurd amount of injuries the Brewers have suffered in their starting rotation to date The good news was that no intervention may be needed "It was something minor that I felt," he said "After that I was feeling it for the next seven I decided to let them know that my job was done for the day But it's nothing that I have to be concerned about "I did some work already and I think I'm going to be fine." It was another outstanding start by Peralta – four hits seven strikeouts – in a game the Brewers simply had to have I'll throw any pitch in any count.' His changeup was great today Everybody knows Fastball Freddy; they're going to get the heater Milwaukee affiliates all go .500 or better on the week If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement every Monday morning I’ll be bringing you a quick recap of the previous week’s minor league activity — including highlights The Sounds went 4-3 this week against the Gwinnett Stripers the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves Nashville is now a game back of the division-leading Memphis Redbirds in the International League West Pitching prospects Logan Henderson (Milwaukee’s No Both pitchers made one start this week with almost identical stats Henderson gave up four hits and struck out six while Miz gave up five hits and struck out five Misiorowski did walk four batters — a notable step back from his last two outings in which he walked just one batter across 11 shutout innings which is a full walk better than his previous career best he’ll have a good shot at making his major league debut this season Infield prospect Anthony Seigler led Nashville with a .500/.654/.833 line on the week Seigler now sports a team-leading .835 OPS on the season No other Nashville position player had a particularly impressive week Oliver Dunn recorded four extra-base hits but only had two other hits who injured his finger on a stolen base attempt on April 22 against the Durham Bulls even though he hasn’t played in almost two weeks Nashville will face off against the Norfolk Tides — the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore — in a six-game series beginning Tuesday The Shuckers took five of six games against the Columbus Clippers Biloxi is suddenly three games over .500 and just three games behind the league-leading Pensacola Blue Wahoos Biloxi finally has a player — catcher Ramón Rodriguez — hitting over .300 on the season who has a career .261 average in his 10 minor league seasons Pratt has had some growing pains as he adjusts to Double-A but still leads the Shuckers in hits (27) although he has also continued to cool off after somewhat of a hot start to the season (.200/.355/.280 on the week) Alexander Cornielle, a 23-year-old pitching prospect who I’ve covered in this column the last couple weeks went another four innings without giving up an earned run Cornielle has still allowed only one earned run through five starts this season (0.42 ERA in 21 2⁄3 innings pitched) It’s still too small of a sample size to know if Cornielle will be anything but he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on — especially considering the lack of Triple-A starting pitching depth beyond Misiorowski/Henderson/Carlos Rodriguez made his first start of the season with the Shuckers Wichrowski surrendered just one hit in three shutout innings which can probably be chalked up to first-start jitters given that he posted a 3.94 BB/9 in 21 starts last year the Shuckers will take on the team with the best record in Double-A — Pensacola Miami’s Double-A affiliate— in a six-game series The Timber Rattlers split a six-game series this week against the West Michigan Whitecaps Wisconsin is now 7.5 games out of first in the Midwest League West Infielder Jadher Areinamo (Brewers No 23) is up to a .301/.373/.476 line on the season after a scorching week (9-for-23 with a home run) Shortstop Eduardo Garcia and first baseman Blake Burke (No Burke now has 10 extra-base hits on the season (.436 SLG) Luiyin Alastre a 19-year-old prospect who has slashed .277/.361/.378 as a minor leaguer Alastre is listed as a shortstop but has also started games at third base He’s already started four games (all in left field) for the Timber Rattlers Pitching prospect Bishop Letson (No. 14) has continued to dominate. Letson went five shutout innings in his only start this week with nine (!!) strikeouts. His ERA is all the way down to 1.27 through five appearances (four starts) this season. Twenty-three-year-old Tyson Hardin also notched a career-high nine Ks in seven shutout innings Wisconsin will face off with the Peoria Chiefs Carolina took three of five games this week against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans The Mudcats now sport the best record in the Carolina League half a game ahead of the Columbia Fireflies Since this is a minor league column, this is your weekly reminder to find a way to watch a Mudcats game (free to watch on the Bally Sports’ website) feature a ton of the Brewers’ high-ceiling and highly ranked prospects continues to get more and more comfortable in Single-A Made has been making hard contact and getting on base consistently Jesús Made hits a walk-off winner off the left field wall in extra innings on Education Day in Carolina. pic.twitter.com/bYAGto3xfY The kid looks to have the confidence of a veteran at just 17 years old Made is now slashing .305/.400/.476 on the season with three home runs and an .876 OPS he’s been striking out too much (20 Ks in 82 at0bats) which is something scouts have had concerns about dating back to when Made was a 16-year-old prospect I’m not very concerned — Made’s been hitting the cover off the ball His K rate is definitely something to keep an eye on Infield prospect Luis Peña (No. 9) only played one game this week due to a mild hamstring strain perhaps Milwaukee’s most underrated prospect He went 6-for-17 (.353) on the week and is now slashing a ridiculous .360/.450/.549 on the season Adamczewski was a 15th-round pick back in 2023 but hit .322 last year and is looking like a steal Milwaukee’s 2024 first-round pick Braylon Payne (No although with zero extra-base hits) after a short cold stretch last week Growing pains are to be expected for the 18-year-old outfielder in his first full season with the Brewers’ organization Carolina will play a six-game series against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers — the Single-A affiliate of the White Sox — next week who was called up by the Brewers on April 21 1 ER) in his first four appearances with Milwaukee his fifth and final appearance didn’t go as smoothly Yoho was tagged by the lowly White Sox for five earned runs in an inning ballooning his major league ERA all the way up to 9.53 he was optioned back to Triple-A in favor of Elvin Rodriguez Yoho still hasn’t given up a run in eight appearances with Nashville but he’ll probably get a couple more weeks to build up confidence in Triple-A Note: As long as Yoho retains prospect status my Craig Yoho Updates will be replaced by another prospect (to be determined) His walk-off single was probably the highlight of the week in the Brewers’ farm system He also recorded his third home run of the year on an absolute frozen rope to left field Jesús Made just obliterated a baseball. pic.twitter.com/sOQsMguxiY Since I’ve already spent half of this week’s column talking about Made here’s Luis Lara with a web gem to rob Braves prospect David McCabe of extra bases: Going airborne with Luis Lara✈️The @Brewers prospect slams into the wall and hangs on to take away extra-bases for the @BiloxiShuckers! pic.twitter.com/Vt9S14IMf5 MILWAUKEE -- Brewers manager Pat Murphy thinks something is missing from his team's usual identity as Milwaukee staggers through the first quarter of the season "It seems like we've misplaced our edge a little bit," Murphy said after a 6-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday that dropped the Brewers two games below .500 Milwaukee went 21 innings without scoring before breaking through in the third Saturday The back-to-back home losses to Chicago have dropped the Brewers five games behind the first-place Cubs in the NL Central standings "They're tremendous," Murphy said of the Cubs "Look at what they did against some of the best teams in the league and how they manhandled us both games The slow start follows a 2024 season in which Milwaukee took over first place for good by the end of April to win its second straight division title That Brewers team prided itself on rarely getting blown out as most of its losses went down to the wire Milwaukee already has lost seven games this season by at least five runs The Brewers are 0-12 when their opponent scores first making them the only major league club without a win in such situations And the past two nights have shown how far the Brewers are from the Cubs at least at this early stage of the season Injuries to the pitching staff have caused many of Milwaukee's issues The Brewers knew they would be opening the season without two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff and Robert Gasser, but Aaron Civale, Aaron Ashby, DL Hall and Nestor Cortes also are on the injured list. Tobias Myers who went 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA as a rookie last year Woodruff is expected to return after making a couple more rehabilitation appearances in the minors All those injuries to starters have taxed Milwaukee's relievers. The Brewers entered Saturday with a 5.14 bullpen ERA that ranked 28th in the majors, ahead of only the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Milwaukee had a 3.11 bullpen ERA that ranked second in the majors behind Cleveland Milwaukee remains confident it will come around "Luckily, this is early still," first baseman Rhys Hoskins said "I don't want to just fall into that because at some point it's not early But we have a lot of baseball to be played and I think because of the talent in this room there's no reason why we won't find ourselves where we want to be come the end of summer." Murphy remains confident as well and says he still has high hopes for this team He said teams do lose their edge at some point in every season and noted that even happened late last year during the Brewers' run to a division title I'm just a little shocked that we've misplaced that edge a little bit." they sit in third place in the National League Central four games behind the division leading Chicago Cubs They ran away with the NL Central last season after losing im the Wild Card Series to the New York Mets Devin Williams was traded to the New York Yankees while Willy Adames signed with the San Francisco Giants However, while the losses were significant, neither player has lived up to expectations with their new teams, and Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller even listed Adames as San Francisco's biggest weakness so far it's "Adames or Bust" for years to come and it's been 'Bust' thus far," Miller writes "He did homer off Nick Pivetta the other day and reached base safely in 10 of his final 11 games in April But he needed that surge to get his early slugging percentage up to a wildly disappointing .300." Adames may be starting to turn a corner with the Giants after signing a seven-year he is still slashing .230/.312/.363 with four home runs two stolen bases and a disappointing .675 OPS Joey Ortiz has struggled in Milwaukee as Adames' replacement but it's clear that the ex-Brewer is also struggling and the Giants are going to need him to turn it around quickly More MLB: Brewers Could Trade For 2024 NL All-Star To Provide Late-Inning Arm The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER The Chicago Cubs saw key players Shota Imanaga and Kyle Tucker get dinged up during their 4-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday in front of 37,360 fans at American Family Field Imanaga suffered a hamstring strain and had to exit the game during the sixth inning after he gave up two runs earlier in the inning. Cubs manager Craig Counsell appeared worried when updating reporters about the starting pitcher’s injury He exited Tuesday night’s game early due to cramps Tucker suffered a minor injury in the ninth inning when sliding on a stolen base with one out and the Cubs trailing 4-0 Per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, Tucker said he fell awkwardly on the slide and received “some form” of treatment He believes he will be in the lineup when Chicago hosts the San Francisco Giants on Monday “Cubs Kyle Tucker on stolen base slide in 9th It didn’t feel the greatest but I am alright.’ Tucker said they did some form of treatment after the game ‘I am alright and I’ll be in the lineup tomorrow’ he said,” Levine posted on X Cubs Kyle Tucker on stolen base slide in 9th ‘I am alright and I’ll be in the lineup tomorrow’ he said — Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) May 4, 2025 but this could be a situation to keep an eye on this week Tucker went 2-for-3 at-bat and took a walk on Sunday The star right fielder is batting .292/.399/.577 with nine home runs and an OPS of .975 this season Follow me on Twitter at @JordanSig, and follow us @ChiCitySports23. You can also reach out to Jordan Sigler via email at jordanmsigler@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL of Chicago sports, click here! Chicago Bears Get the latest Chicago sports news, analysis, and breaking stories on the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox, Sky, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News so you never miss a story on your favorite Chicago teams Jordan Sigler is a trending news writer for ChiCitySports The move comes one day after Imanaga left Sunday's 4-0 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers (box score) with the injury which marked the second consecutive start that saw him depart early with a physical issue Imanaga exited in the sixth inning with leg cramps Imanaga suffered the injury during the bottom of the sixth, when he was tasked with covering first base on a potential double-play ball off the bat of Christian Yelich (Yelich was ruled safe.) He could be seen grabbing at the back of his left leg after completing the play Shota Imanaga left the game after an apparent injury following this play. pic.twitter.com/dZJXzSeEoS Chicago's bullpen subsequently allowed a pair of inherited runners to score The book closed on his afternoon with him surrendering two runs on four hits and a walk He also struck out four of the 22 batters he faced Imanaga is now sporting a 2.82 ERA and a 2.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 44 ⅔ innings pitched The Cubs have not offered a timetable on Imanaga's return. Baseball Prospectus' database indicates that players with strained hamstrings tend to miss between three and four weeks on average Chicago does have an obvious stand-in for Imanage available to them: right-hander and former first-round pick Cade Horton That appearance lowered his seasonal ERA to 1.44 over six outings The Cubs go into Monday's home series opener against the San Francisco Giants (CHC -120, SFG +100, over/under 7.5, per Caesars) with a 21-14 record, good for first place in the National League Central. © 2004-2025 CBS Interactive. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DL Hall made the first start of his lengthy rehab process on Saturday afternoon Hall was somewhat surprisingly included on the Arizona Complex League (ACL) Brewers' roster when it was announced on Saturday morning and was immediately thrown into action starting the team's opener yesterday afternoon Despite not being eligible to return from the 60-day IL until the end of May the Brewers are still planning on building Hall up as a starter it's understandable that the organization is taking things slow with their electric lefty who they acquired in the Corbin Burnes trade a season ago McCalvy offered several more highly anticipated updates on the many Brewers pitchers currently on the injured list through a post on the social media platform X Yet more pitching tidbits: - Nestor Cortes is trending toward a return around the All-Star break - Aaron Ashby has faced hitters in AZ but timeline is TBD- Rule 5 LHP Connor Thomas threw 25p off the mound today and his schedule leads to a rehab assignment beginning May 21 Civale went down with a hamstring injury during his first start of the season against the New York Yankees. He surrendered five earned runs on three home runs before the injury presented itself and forced him to exit the game. While his start to the 2025 season was rocky, Civale, who the Brewers acquired in early July of 2024 posted a solid 3.53 ERA in his 14 starts with Milwaukee a season ago With him starting his rehab assignment this week it's possible that Civale could return to the Brewers' rotation before the end of the month which could add some much-needed stability to the team's starting staff it appears that Cortes will be out at least until the All-Star break leaving the Brewers without one of their top starters for more than half the season Prior to Saturday's updates, Ashby was seemingly the closest injured Brewers pitcher to returning. Unlike Cortes and Hall, Ashby avoided the 60-day IL after going down with a right oblique strain during spring training. However and while other pitchers are scheduling theirs the timing of Ashby's return remains unclear it's unclear whether that return will come as a starter or a reliever but as his rehab process continues to stall the likelihood of him coming out of the bullpen increases Finally, Thomas, who began the year as the Brewers’ long reliever in low-leverage situations, is throwing on a mound again after landing on the 15-day IL with left elbow arthritis in early April. Thomas was not off to a great start; he covered 5.1 innings and allowed 14 earned runs during the first week of the season. That equates to a 20.25 ERA. While Thomas, who is subject to the roster limitations of Rule-5 Draft picks doesn't have a clear place on the Brewers’ current roster he could serve as a valuable innings eater if he can keep the ball in the ballpark following his return © 2025 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands ","https://fansided.com/",{"alt":"6d","src":"6e","url":"6f"},{"type":"6c","value":"6g"},"link","Minute Media","https://www.minutemedia.com/",{"text":"6j","url":"6k"},{"type":"6i","value":"6l"},"All Rights Reserved Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands He previously wrote for SB Nation and Brew Crew Ball where he covered the Milwaukee Brewers and their minor league affiliates Owen attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for undergraduate and graduate school As a former high school baseball player and coach Owen developed a deep passion for the game of baseball that he has carried with him throughout his career as a writer Civale went down with a hamstring injury during his first start of the season against the New York Yankees. He surrendered five earned runs on three home runs before the injury presented itself and forced him to exit the game. While his start to the 2025 season was rocky, Civale, who the Brewers acquired in early July of 2024 Prior to Saturday's updates, Ashby was seemingly the closest injured Brewers pitcher to returning. Unlike Cortes and Hall, Ashby avoided the 60-day IL after going down with a right oblique strain during spring training. However Finally, Thomas, who began the year as the Brewers’ long reliever in low-leverage situations, is throwing on a mound again after landing on the 15-day IL with left elbow arthritis in early April. Thomas was not off to a great start; he covered 5.1 innings and allowed 14 earned runs during the first week of the season. That equates to a 20.25 ERA. While Thomas, who is subject to the roster limitations of Rule-5 Draft picks DL Hall encourages Brewers fans with return to the mound in the Arizona Complex League The Milwaukee Brewers will look for a bounce-back start from right-hander Tobias Myers when they open a three-game series Monday night against the visiting Houston Astros. Myers (0-0, 5.14 ERA), who lasted just two innings in his last start, will oppose fellow right-hander Ronel Blanco (2-2, 5.08). Milwaukee defeated the Chicago Cubs 4-0 on Sunday behind Freddy Peralta to avoid a three-game series sweep. The Brewers scored all four runs in the sixth inning after Cubs starter Shota Imanaga departed with a hamstring injury. Houston lost 5-4 at the Chicago White Sox on Sunday in a game shortened to seven innings due to rain. Lance McCullers Jr., making his first start since the 2022 World Series, tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings in an 87-pitch outing. Myers emerged as one of the Brewers' most reliable starters last season as a rookie, finishing 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 27 appearances, including 25 starts. Myers opened this season on the injured list with a left oblique strain. He has been inconsistent since returning, however. Myers was yanked after two innings in his most recent start on April 30, allowing two runs on two hits but also walking three in a 49-pitch outing versus the White Sox. "Not commanding the zone. Not throwing strikes," Myers said afterward. "Just not giving the team a chance to win... Disappointed for sure. Don't want to have the bullpen out there in the third. Rolling off that last start, same thing -- disappointed." Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he was sending a message to Myers. "You don't walk the leadoff hitter," Murphy said. "You got to be able to come out in the game with your changeup already ready. It was more of a message to Tobias than anything else." Myers will make his first career start against the Astros on Monday. With the win over the Cubs, the Brewers avoided their third four-game losing streak of the season. Milwaukee was the only team in the majors last season to not have a skid of at least four games. Christian Yelich singled Sunday to snap a 0-for-19 skid, which dropped his average from .238 to .205. Outfielder Sal Frelick left the game with left knee discomfort and was scheduled for an MRI, Murphy said afterward. Blanco, meanwhile, has been inconsistent in his six starts, allowing 23 hits and 14 walks in 28 1/3 innings and has given up five homers. In his last start, he allowed three runs on three hits -- including two homers -- in five innings but did not get the decision in an 8-5 comeback win over Detroit. Blanco has yet to face the Brewers in his career. Shortstop Jeremy Pena singled Sunday versus the White Sox to extend his hitting streak to eight games. He has hit safely in 22 of his last 23 games. Closer Josh Hader, who spent his first 5 1/2 seasons with Milwaukee, has converted all eight save opportunities this season with Houston. Yordan Alvarez, scratched Saturday due to inflammation in his right hand, was not in the lineup Sunday. "I'm going to give him a day just to see if he feels better to be able to play tomorrow," manager Joe Espada said Sunday. "It's just been sore for a couple of days and created some inflammation, kind of on the side of his right hand. We're going to give him a day." 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nursing what the team identified as a strained left hamstring He likely will undergo imaging to get a clearer picture of the severity of the injury “I’m at the point where I don’t know what exactly is going on don’t know what the damage is,” Imanaga said after the game through Japanese interpreter Edwin Stanberry Imanaga hurt his hamstring running from the mound to cover first base on a double-play attempt when the Brewers’ Christian Yelich hit a grounder to Cubs first baseman Michael Busch With one out and runners taking off from first and second Imanaga stepped off the bag and grabbed the back of his left leg He bounced a throw home to keep the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio at third Counsell and a trainer had a short conversation with Imanaga before leading him off the field “It’s the first time it’s ever happened,” Imanaga said of the injury Imanaga also left his start Tuesday in Pittsburgh in the sixth inning But he bounced back and remained on a regular schedule for his start against the Brewers my body physically has felt really good,” Imanaga said So there was no sign of [any issue with] the back of my leg before the game or anything like that Counsell wouldn’t say definitively that Imanaga was headed to the injured list citing the need to gather more information before making the decision “He’s never had any lower-body muscle strains so he’s a little unsure of what the feeling means,” Counsell said The Cubs already have had to weather left-hander Justin Steele’s season-ending elbow surgery with veteran right-hander Colin Rea performing admirably as his replacement They had expected right-hander Javier Assad to return from the IL and replenish the team’s starting depth until he re-strained his left oblique in a rehab start almost two weeks ago Asked if top pitching prospect Cade Horton who has a 1.17 ERA in Triple-A this season would be an option if Imanaga went on the IL Counsell said the team was “not even close” to surveying backup plans who was starting for Triple-A Iowa before the Cubs called him up to join the bullpen who’s on the 40-man roster and has major-league starting experience he allowed seven runs in 2⅔ innings in his last start for Iowa The Cubs and Brewers were still locked in a scoreless tie when Imanaga exited with two runners on and two outs The game quickly unraveled when right-hander Julian Merryweather took over on short notice before Joey Ortiz lined out to end the inning The Cubs were shut out for just the second time this season Terms of Use • Privacy Notice • Cookie Policy • Terms of Sale ‘Grand Slamber,’ brewed onsite at American Family Field and named by a Brewers Front Office employee Drinkers can expect a malty sweetness balanced out by light grapefruit hop aromas crowlers that are available for purchase on non-game days The beer will be available throughout the 2025 Brewers season Fans can enjoy the ‘Grand Slamber’ and other special brews along with the full menu of Leinenkugel beer offerings and a menu of delicious foods from the scratch kitchen at J Leinenkugel’s Barrel Yard located at American Family Field Check out J. Leinenkugel’s Barrel Yard's websitefor the full list of available beverages Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more. Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip Report a typo This was not a good Sunday for the Chicago Cubs The story is the hamstring injury suffered by Shōta Imanaga who had matched Freddy Peralta with zeroes until there were two out in the bottom of the sixth The Brewers had runners on first and second with one out Then this happened [VIDEO]. You can see Imanaga take a misstep and grab at the back of his left leg which is not the leg in which he had cramps in his last start in Pittsburgh the bad news of a hamstring strain was confirmed: Per #Cubs Shota Imanaga left today's game with a left hamstring strain We don’t yet know how severe this strain is but I am certain Imanaga will hit the injured list At this point, especially with Cade Horton dominating Sunday for Triple-A Iowa (six innings, two hits, one run, five strikeouts) that Horton will get the call to replace Imanaga in the rotation Shōta’s next turn would come up Saturday in New York against the Mets so that’s the likely callup time for Horton the Cubs could skip that turn in the rotation the next time through but it seems more likely a callup of Horton will happen and everyone else will get an extra day’s rest Shōta did have a very good outing before the injury. Here’s more [VIDEO]. Back to the game and what happened after this injury: Imanaga left the game for Julian Merryweather The wheels immediately fell off the proverbial bus when Merryweather’s first pitch was a wild one An intentional walk to Rhys Hoskins followed A stolen base by Cameron and double by Caleb Durbin scored two more runs and that Did Merryweather take enough time to warm up Usually pitchers in that situation get as much time as they want and it did seem longer than a usual warmup time Daniel Palencia threw a scoreless seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts Drew Pomeranz continued his excellent work since joining the Cubs with a scoreless eighth Ian Happ led off with a single and Kyle Tucker walked Happ went to third on a fly to center by Seiya Suzuki Tucker stole second and for a brief moment appeared to be injured — with the Imanaga injury they speculated he might have just had the wind knocked out of him and that appears to be the case as Tucker stayed in the game with runners on second and third and one out and a chance to come back Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner struck out to end the game That’s a downer way to end what was still a really good road trip to Pittsburgh and Milwaukee The Cubs remain in first place in the NL Central and a 21-14 record is still quite good Today’s game was the Cubs’ fourth this season with no extra-base hits The first three all were at home: a 3-1 win over the Padres Losing Imanaga for even the minimum IL stint will hurt we will soon find out how MLB-ready Horton is This team seems pretty resilient and I think they can weather this loss The Cubs will open a three-game series and homestand Monday evening against the Giants at Wrigley Field Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Landen Roupp will go for San Francisco CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network May 5 and the Astros (17-16) are in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers (17-18) Ronel Blanco is slated to take the mound for Houston against Tobias Myers for Milwaukee The Astros lost the series to the Chicago White Sox last night after a 5-4 loss The Astros are 17-16 this season and third in the AL West The Brewers lost their series against the Chicago Cubs and gave up 16 runs in three games while having a shutout victory in game three Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines injuries and transactions where you can filter by league If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700 Our model calculates projections around each moneyline spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance ballpark information and weather forecasts we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Monday’s game between the Astros and the Brewers: Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff: A Division of NBCUniversal DISCLAIMER: This site and the products offered are for entertainment purposes only and there is no gambling offered on this site This service is intended for adult audiences No guarantees are made for any specific outcome Collection of photos from the Brewers' three-game series against the Cubs Milwaukee dropped Games 1 and 2 but battled back for a Game 3 victory Brewers' Caleb Durbin hits a two-run double against the Cubs during the sixth inning Sunday in Milwaukee reacts after his three-run home run against the Brewers during the fourth inning Saturday in Milwaukee Crow-Armstrong drilled three home runs across the first two games of the series Brewers' Christian Yelich is called out on strikes during the first inning against the Cubs on Saturday in Milwaukee exchange lineups with umpire Jansen Visconti Counsell was the Brewers' manager from 2015 to 2023 Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta throws to the Cubs during the first inning Sunday in Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio reacts after striking out during the eighth inning against the Cubs on Friday in Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio reacts after his double against the Cubs during the third inning Saturday in Milwaukee Brewers' Trevor Megill reacts after getting the last out against the Cubs during the ninth inning Sunday in Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang watches his RBI single against the Cubs during the third inning Saturday in Milwaukee is tagged out while trying to steal second base by Brewers' Brice Turang during the fifth inning Sunday in Milwaukee Back-to-back home losses to Chicago dropped the Brewers five games behind the first-place Cubs in the NL Central standings Here's what their manager had to say after the latest loss Freddy Peralta tossed six scoreless innings and a four-run sixth provided more than enough run support to help Milwaukee prevail with a series finale win Milwaukee pitcher Jose Quintana gave up back-to-back homers in the fourth inning as the Brewers dropped their third straight overall Here's how things shook out in their latest defeat With a friendship that goes back well over three decades the pair of MLB managers are not going to let a little rivalry get in their way Milwaukee also called up right-hander Elvin Rodríguez before their Saturday night game with the rival Chicago Cubs Here's what manager Pat Murphy said about the moves Michael Busch hit his first career grand slam and Pete Crow-Armstrong added two solo shots as Chicago crushed Milwaukee in the first matchup of the season between the division rivals Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account Buy Brewers Tickets on SeatGeek Buy Brewers Tickets on StubHub Watch MLB on Fubo Brewers' top hittersJackson Chourio is batting .255 this season with a .268 on-base percentage and a .470 slugging percentage plus 23 runs scored and two steals on four attempts.In 2025 to go along with a .372 on-base percentage and a .400 slugging percentage plus 28 runs scored and eight stolen bases on 11 attempts and his walk rate is 8.2%.Contreras' current batting average is .248 plus 17 runs scored and four steals on four attempts and his walk rate is 15.7%.Also for the Brewers with a .381 on-base percentage and a .398 slugging percentage plus 16 runs scored and seven stolen bases on nine attempts.Red Sox's top hittersAlexander Bregman sports a .317 average along with a .396 OBP and .583 SLG in 159 plate appearances this year He's also belted eight home runs with 27 RBI and 25 runs while putting up an 18.2% K% and 9.4% BB%.In 132 plate appearances this year the Red Sox's Abreu has a .279/.394/.523 triple slash line and he's hit seven dingers with 20 runs and 22 RBI plus four stolen bases on four attempts He's walking and striking out 15.9% and 22.7% of the time who sports a .271/.321/.419 triple slash line while his strikeout rate is 18.5%.At the plate Rafael Devers is hitting .250/.370/.441 this season with a walk rate of 15.8% and a K rate of 26.7% he's popped five home runs while knocking in 23 runs and scoring 22 times.Brewers' injuriesGarrett Mitchell: 10 Day IL (Oblique) The Milwaukee Brewers are off to a slow start in 2025 four games behind the first place Chicago Cubs After running away with the NL Central title last year They watched Willy Adames sign a seven-year $182 million contract with the San Francisco Giants and traded closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees while the Brewers are feeling the magnitude of these losses Williams and Adames haven't exactly been setting the world on fire with their new teams Williams even lost the closer job with the Yankees, and Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller listed him as the Yankees biggest weakness "Remember in 2022 when Josh Hader went on a paternity leave in mid-June and then after initially pitching well upon his return went through a stretch of nearly two months in which he allowed 25 earned runs in 13 innings pitched Maybe that's what's going on with Williams as opposed to the alternative that last October's implosion broke him But he'll probably get his mojo and his job back by the All-Star Break," Miller wrote but he's 0-2 with an 8.18 ERA with the Bronx Bombers The two-time All-Star has not been able to live up to expectations but they'll need the former Brewer to find his groove again soon This article first appeared on Milwaukee Brewers on SI and was syndicated with permission customized to your favorite sports and teams when you buy something through our retail links AeroPress-like device from Oxo that achieves credible cold brew in unbelievable time Low-cost and lightweight.TIREDCapacity is limited Cold brew still not quiiiite as good as the kind that requires patience.I am holding in my hand what for a moment feels like the holy grail the new Rapid Brewer from Oxo has done something I've declared impossible many times over: It has made actual good-tasting cold brew in five minutes takes time: anything from a few hours to a full day is a little multipart device with a hand pump and a tight-tamped coffee reservoir—designed to use hand-pumped air pressure to push water through a tight espresso-like puck of coffee grounds and it's small enough to take on a hike And so I ground a whopping 40 grams of medium-roast coffee to a super-fine, nearly espresso-like grind and tamped it into the device's coffee reservoir like a thick quad-shot puck. I poured a standard American coffee cup into the reservoir I'd screwed up top and then I waited five minutes before pumping air pressure into the water chamber Photograph: Matthew KorfhageOxo Rapid Brewer All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links a delicious dark elixir showered into the waiting cup the result was about 4 ounces of genuinely credible cold-brew concentrate—ready to be diluted with milk or ice water into a morning drink The coffee had released its natural sweetness and a whole lot of flavor Among all instant-ish cold brew I've tried this tasted the most like traditional cold brew the stuff that takes 12 or 24 hours to make it's hard not to notice similarities between the Oxo Rapid Brewer and another multipart plastic tube of a brewer that … also uses hand-applied pressure to brew coffee quickly Indeed, when she saw the device, an editor asked excitedly, “Is this an AeroPress from Oxo?” It is absolutely not replied Oxo's reps emphatically when asked this very question Photograph: Matthew Korfhage“Unlike the AeroPress where the coffee and water are fully mixed and agitated before filtration the Rapid Brewer’s process focuses on pressure-driven extraction through the coffee bed,” went the response filtered through the anonymizing power of emailed public relations “The resulting concentrate is bold and flavorful with our cold brew in particular reaching extraction levels that are difficult to achieve with other brewing methods.” water dribbles through a shower filter into a thick working its way slowly through the puck but releasing very few drops Only when I start hand-pumping is the water pushed more quickly through the puck dribbling out over the course of another minute or so: The air in the chamber reaches higher than one bar about double what you'd usually expect from an AeroPress but still way less than the nine bars needed to qualify as espresso The resulting cold brew concentrate benefits from pressurized extraction Using a boatload of coffee grounds also means a greater bulk of flavor compounds is extracted The device manages to coax out a surprising amount of sweetness especially with roasts that lean caramelly and medium-dark it produces a satisfyingly full-bodied and full-flavored drink the results were significantly better than fast cold brew made with an AeroPress Is the cold brew produced by the Rapid Brewer as complex and sweet and smooth as a 12-hour cold brew The Rapid Brewer is a fast but blunt instrument extracting sweetness and full body but not quite all of the flavor While my first attempt with the brewer yielded cold brew so delicious I thought my senses had gone haywire subsequent attempts with different beans showed limitations You're also using a whole heck of a lot of beans for each mug of cold brew: 40 grams of coffee for four ounces of concentrate enough to make eight to 12 ounces of drinking-strength cold brew once diluted I'd expect to use less than half that if making 10-ounce mug of drip coffee The portion you're using for the Rapid Brewer is also significantly more than you'd need to make the traditional cold brew that involves patience and forethought this Rapid Brewer would quickly become expensive this is not a cold-brew maker of first resort or mornings at home when long-extracted cold brew is not available I haven't said much about hot brew as of yet but the Rapid Brew will indeed also produce hot coffee if you use about half as much coffee and steep for only 2 minutes But I don't see as much use for the hot-coffee side of the equation But that said, as with the AeroPress it kinda resembles, user experimentation will eventually determine what works and doesn't work with the Rapid Brewer. I've started messing around with different doses, and I even tried running water twice through coarser grounds, with surprisingly OK results. What made the AeroPress popular was not the original AeroPress recipe; it was the opportunity to goof around with it and come up with one's own ideal result. In the meantime, this Oxo Rapid Brewer offers a palatable and quite economical home solution to a sudden need for cold brew—the only such solution I know. And when you need coffee, you always need it fast. All products featured on Wired are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking 2025By Christian Hogstedt.Save this storySaveSave this storySaveOn a rainy Monday afternoon Tucked into the corner of a Chinese teahouse near her apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side she wears a slightly folded bucket hat over her red locks and patterned sweater vest that showcases a constellation of small arm tattoos Brewer looks so utterly serene and effortlessly cool that I hesitate to disturb her one of which is often obscured by a patch on TV “Thank you for coming all the way up here and sitting on the ground with me,” she says who first moved to the city to attend New York’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy is back in her old stomping grounds after stints in Los Angeles and London Brewer discovered the Floating Mountain Tea House a few months ago and has grown friendly with our server Vivian who confirms that the drizzly conditions make it a good day for tea “I like the ceremony of it all,” Brewer says though she worries this pocket-sized spot might get less accessible should it grow more popular “I get to be in the final season of two shows that have had such an impact and are saying something beyond just entertainment “Because I’ve certainly done things that people don’t see.” Hulu’s The Handmaid’s TaleSophie GiraudNetflix’s YouCLIFTON PRESCOD/NETFLIXFour months after graduating drama school Brewer got cast in what she believed would be a web series That show turned out to be Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black a recovering addict whose death is the most emotional moment in the dramedy’s first season she booked the part of tenacious handmaid Janine which earned Brewer a supporting-actress Emmy nomination in 2021 Roles in the Blumhouse-produced thriller Cam and alongside Jennifer Lopez in the stripper heist film Hustlers followed Brewer played Sally Bowles for 200-plus performances of the Olivier Award–winning West End revival of Cabaret “I took every feeling I had about theater for a decade and put it into this one character who wasn’t meant to hold all of that.” Brewer became physically frail during her four-month stint: “I was so stressed out just thinking it would all be taken away which is not the place I operate from anymore.” She would join the ongoing Broadway production if asked but says “it would also be a completely different performance.” Brewer frequently mentions Thompson-Roylance whom she’ll marry this summer in an English wedding that will be “Bridgerton during the day As everything fell into place in February 2024 Brewer got a call from the producers of You outlining her role as the final object of Joe Goldberg’s obsession “She’s the next ‘You,’—that’s how they say it,” she says “And I love a character who has a screw loose.” After bonding over literature and personal loss Joe hires Brewer’s free-spirited Bronte to work at his newly-revived bookstore has long been itching to join his psychological drama I think the first season is one of the best standalone seasons of television,” she says and I put them in a Mooney’s paper bag.” Her haul included The Portable Nietzsche a translation of German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche’s foremost works which proved helpful when she enrolled in The New School’s liberal arts program earlier this year “I was starting to feel like nothing I was doing was just purely to enrich myself,” Brewer says When we speak, Brewer is fresh off her first essay for her philosophy class—a meditation on Nietzsche, the Hindu Upanishads, and late filmmaker David Lynch. “Who knows what I’ll get on that paper because I submitted it at 11:59 last night “It is the most challenging thing I have ever done being a student of something that I had no prior knowledge of at all.” Brewer’s You syllabus wasn’t exactly Nietzsche-heavy Bronte is a fan of “fairy smut,” which she counterbalances with the plays of Henrik Ibsen and issues of the Financial Times Brewer herself got about 150 pages into a popular erotic fantasy novel before snapping it shut “It feels like people walking slowly on the sidewalk Not a fan of the slow burn.” She declines to name the series on record: “I don’t want those people after me I’m already going to have the You people after me.” The actor predicts that an allegedly reformed (and very much married) Joe won’t be the only one who finds Bronte to be “frustrating and utterly captivating all at once.” The character is both refreshingly direct (“My skin isn’t gonna be turned into a suit “I’m not whatever ingenue you’re projecting onto me,” she tells Joe Taking on a role like this in a hyper-analyzed series like You does mean “opening yourself up to a certain amount of scrutiny I’m not everyone’s cup of tea,” Brewer says There’s already people on the internet being Brewer and Badgley in season 5 of You.CLIFTON PRESCOD/NETFLIXShe anticipates more backlash “People aren’t going to like Bronte for one reason or another They’ll love to hate her—or hate to love her So that part I’m just gently preparing myself for If that means I’m not on Instagram for a while but if they lose their chill—I’ll be okay.” All of these nerves about how Bronte will be received are ironic given that the series’s leading man is a mass murderer “That’s why I love the show so much,” Brewer says we know you’re in love with that serial killer guy from Netflix Brewer has yet to see any of You’s final season which she plans to eventually watch with her fiancé “I’m a little nervous because I make out with Penn so much,” she admits Badgley’s wife since 2017] are just the most wonderful people Badgley believably plays a creep; off-screen I’m going home to my wife and children.’ And we’re “But I get the sense from Penn that he’s been saying he’s old since he was This protective streak was especially valuable during some of Bronte and Joe’s more intimate encounters “There’s this scene where I’m a fantasy that’s jerking him off under a table,” Brewer says “I truly just froze and was about to cry.” Then Badgley and intimacy coordinator Allison Jones assured Brewer that she was safe “I want you to feel comfortable.” Brewer appreciated the support “We really met each other in a place where it was It was a welcome change of pace for Brewer who started acting before the position of intimacy coordinator existed “I had to learn through trial and error—and a lot of trial—how to advocate for myself He is the best number one [on the call sheet] I’ve ever worked with If I have to work with actors who are men,” she jokes being forced to carry children for an elite class of male “commanders.” Impossibly enough the show’s final season also premieres under Trump’s eye Elisabeth Moss and Brewer in season 1 of The Handmaid’s Tale.George KraychykBrewer was filming Handmaid’s during both the 2016 and 2024 elections and is struck by how prophetic the show has been ‘Have we meant nothing to the world?’” she says “I’m going to choose to not believe that because I think that this is…What does the internet call it An extinction gasp—that last gasp for life of severe right-wing misogyny before it crumbles I’m so tired of having the show be so relevant This season, Janine faces new challenges after being ousted as handmaid to Bradley Whitford’s Commander Lawrence and separated from her young daughter. She’s forced to live as a Jezebel, sexually serving other members of the ruling class—most regularly, a new character played by Veep’s Timothy Simons. Simons and Brewer’s unsettling onscreen interactions were buoyed by their playful off-screen dynamic “Handmaid’s Tale is very considerate about the fact that the power dynamics are very different between men and women and offers us a lot of power to express what we’re comfortable with,” she says and his ideas for the character were so fun Or there was one point where I just grabbed Tim’s tie she likes the idea of doing less politically resonant projects Brewer embraces how Handmaid’s has pushed her ‘Here is my Instagram post and then I’ve done my activism for the day,” she says “[The show] forced me to become more aware Christian HogstedtIt’s been months since Brewer wrapped You and Handmaid’s but her desire to advocate for Bronte and Janine lingers By the end of her six-season run on the latter show “I truly just hoped that she would find peace “We’ve seen June allow anger and hatred of Gilead to shape her—make her do things like murder people Janine wouldn’t have survived without her friends who were willing to kill people but she was able to make it through without compromising herself.” checks every box of what a good man should be—even he’s not a good guy Bronte understands that really intimately and plays all the right notes.” you’re going to kill your own career or yourself.” With two potential breakthroughs now in the rearview she feels ready to step into a new kind of spotlight “I have so much gratitude for the work I’ve been allowed to do And why shouldn’t I be allowed to do more?” says Brewer “I don’t know what that’s going to look like How Miriam Adelson Went From Big MAGA Winner to Casino Loser in Trump’s First 100 Days Trump’s Lies Are Finally Catching Up to Him The UK Has Found Another Reason to Be Mad at Meghan Markle “It’s About Him”: How Trump Is Perverting the Presidential Photo Stream The Ballad of Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson The Truth Underlying Pete Hegseth’s Job Security Why Are Americans So Obsessed With Protein How Sebastian Stan Became Hollywood’s Most Daring Shape-Shifter Every Quentin Tarantino Movie Meet Elon Musk’s 14 Children and Their Mothers (Whom We Know of) From the Archive: Sinatra and the Mob Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The Milwaukee Brewers will see a familiar face when the Houston Astros roll into town Closer Josh Hader has entered the second year of his five-year with a 1.80 ERA in 13 games and eight saves Hader has struck out 20 batters in 15 innings with a mere three walks and nine hits allowed He did just allow his first homer of the year in his last outing a two-run shot by Detroit's Gleyber Torres But that was with two outs and Houston owning a 6-2 lead; the Astros won The Astros have won all 13 games in which Hader has appeared Three other former Brewers — utility man Mauricio Dubón backup catcher Victor Caratini and reliever Bennett Sousa — are with the Astros this season How have former Brewers fared during the first month of the 2025 Major League Baseball season Corbin Burnes, Arizona DiamondbacksThe 2021 Cy Young Award winner will miss his next start due to right-shoulder inflammation Arizona hopes Burnes can avoid a trip to the injured list who signed a six-year contract worth $210 million before the season with a 1.378 WHIP that's much higher than any he's had since his career rebirth following 2019 in Milwaukee he has a 3.58 ERA and has allowed five homers including a win over Milwaukee on April 12 despite scoring 5.8 runs per game in those outings in his first year of a seven-year deal with the Giants worth $182 million had a breakthrough May 4 when he hit two homers and drove in three runs for victorious San Francisco Adames has also struggled compared with his Brewers career, posting a .675 OPS and four homers in 135 at-bats, with 18 RBIs and a .312 on-base percentage. He has played in all 35 games. Statcast regards his defense as one of the worst in baseball among qualified players. After back-to-back brutal outings in late April, Williams was removed from the closer's role in New York allowing just one walk and facing the minimum in three complete innings of work He's needed only 34 pitches to negotiate those three innings 1.818 WHIP) will continue to look unimpressive for a while Traded to the Yankees in the offseason for the deal that brought back Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin Williams is still on track to become a free agent this offseason but he's one of the more intriguing storylines of the early season after the Brewers exposed him to the Rule 5 draft and the White Sox made him the first overall pick Smith gave up three runs (one earned) in five innings against his former team April 30 in a Brewers victory and the Sox have lost five of Smith's six starts But that's not Smith's fault; Chicago has scored a grand total of 14 runs in those six games posting a 2.23 ERA in his 32 innings and a 1.082 WHIP he's appeared in 10 games and has a 2.30 ERA and 0.830 WHIP in nearly 16 innings with four homers and 14 RBIs over 74 plate appearances New York MetsBad news for those who love to hate Winker; he's still playing well After playing a big role in the Mets' defeat of the Brewers during last year's playoffs he has a 111 OPS-plus and a .738 OPS with a homer five doubles and two triples (already matching a career high) New York MetsTaylor continues to be productive although his OPS has dipped to .647 and he has just one homer in 96 plate appearances But he's the center fielder for a first-place Mets team (22-13) and is still just 31 A key component of the 2023 Brewers as a trade-deadline acquisition is having a rough start at the plate with a .632 OPS but he still plays reliable defense at first base What has gotten into Grisham? A reliable center field defender Grisham is having an absolute breakout at age 28 including eight homers (his career-best for a season is 17) He's forced his way into more playing time and is outperforming Juan Soto the player with whom Grisham was traded from San Diego to New York The former Brewers first-round draft pick started his career in Milwaukee in 2019 Big hits from unlikely sources get Brewers over the line After two ugly losses to their biggest rival, the Brewers turned to their ace Peralta responded with six fabulous innings followed by three more good ones from the bullpen and Milwaukee’s struggling offense did just enough — and capitalized on Chicago’s one real mistake of the day — to pull out a 4-0 victory salvaging the last game of this otherwise-ugly series Peralta started out today’s game by giving them something they badly needed: a scoreless first inning with Peralta getting some help from home-plate umpire Malachi Moore on the last one (the called third strike was definitely high but the Brewers will certainly take what breaks they can get at the moment) In the bottom of the first, it was Jackson Chourio leading off against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga saw a few more pitches and finished his at-bat by dropping a single in front of Happ in left field William Contreras followed with a very different kind of single — a 111-mph screamer to center hit hard enough that Collins had to hold at second Christian Yelich then just missed the sweet spot on one and flew out to fairly deep right and their two first-inning hits went for naught The good call that Peralta got to end the first was cosmically corrected by a terrible missed third strike on a 3-2 pitch to the second inning’s leadoff hitter Busch advanced to second when the first-base umpire ruled obstruction by Hoskins on a pickoff throw but Brewers fans will surely be grumbling about the number of times they have seen this not called when it would have benefited them as Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a lazy pop fly into shallow left-center that nearly dropped between Collins and Chourio but Collins made the catch on the run while avoiding a collision with Chourio Miguel Amaya popped out to shallow left to end the inning Sal Frelick led off the second inning with a pretty deep drive to right and he was followed by a far less threatening fly ball from Caleb Durbin and a strikeout from Joey Ortiz Dansby Swanson led off the top of the third with a base hit but Joey Ortiz turned a nice 6-3 double play on a Jon Berti grounder and Happ popped out in foul territory to end the inning Turang fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches but struck out to start the bottom of the third Chourio hit an 0-1 splitter to right field for the second out and Collins popped out behind the plate for the third out — the Brewers were up to eight straight retired after Contreras’s one-out single in the first who appeared to tweak his left knee during his second-inning at-bat was removed from the game in the top of the fourth and replaced in right field by Daz Cameron was removed with “knee discomfort,” and it’s unclear if it requires anything more serious than some ice and rest) Tucker led off the inning by knocking a base hit in front of Cameron Peralta then struck out Suzuki again — swinging no help from the ump necessary — and Busch just missed a two-run homer after that a ball that was maybe just a tiny bit too high and which died on the warning track The inning ended when Hoerner hit a groundout to third for the third out Imanaga started his fourth with a three-pitch strikeout of Contreras but Yelich hit a rocket into the opposite-field gap with one out Crow-Armstrong did a nice job of cutting that ball off (If you look at PCA’s old scouting reports on MLB Pipeline This is the kind of thing that makes a difference.) Hoskins flew out to right which set up the first home at-bat for Cameron as a Brewer: he worked a good but he hit it to the wrong part of the park and flew out to center for the final out PCA got the fifth started with an opposite-field single but he was caught trying to steal second base — and I think we need to take a moment to acknowledge Contreras leads the majors with 11 baserunners caught stealing at a sparkling 46% rate and he was through five scoreless innings on 75 pitches but Peralta was holding up his end of the bargain William Contreras unleashes a perfect throw to nab Pete Crow-Armstrong at second base! pic.twitter.com/FHArMDTKZP Milwaukee’s offensive breakthrough would not come in the fifth and Imanaga was also through five scoreless on an even-more-efficient 71 pitches it was beginning to feel like a game where if the Cubs scored and he responded by getting the first two in the top of the sixth on just six pitches but Peralta struck out Suzuki for the third time and he was through six without allowing a run (or even an extra-base hit) Chourio led off the bottom of the sixth and took a questionable strike one on the outside corner and quickly fell behind 0-2 it was a very encouraging plate appearance Before the Brewer announcers could even debate whether or not Collins should bunt putting runners on first and second with one out for Yelich Yelich delivered a Yelich special — a hard grounder to the right side — but he did manage to beat the relay throw to first Imanaga also hurt himself on the play while running to cover first base — my years of watching soccer have told me that he likely strained a hamstring and there was a delay while Julian Merryweather was given whatever time he needed to get warmed up had runners on the corners and Hoskins to deal with It turned out maybe he wasn’t ready: his first pitch was way outside Chourio scored from third to break the scoreless tie on the wild pitch the Cubs put him on to face Cameron instead; with former Brewer and dad Mike Cameron in the crowd the younger Cameron picked up his first hit as a Brewer and Yelich scored from second for a huge second run Cameron stole second to put runners on second and third for Durbin and Durbin delivered: a two-run double to the right field gap that made it 4-0 The Brewers' offense finally had their desperately needed offensive breakthrough thanks to two unlikely sources: Cameron and Durbin Daz Cameron's first hit as a Brewer gives us a 2-0 lead ❕ pic.twitter.com/D7q0cdAt9V Caleb Durbin makes it a 4️⃣ run sixth! pic.twitter.com/t08fntb3C6 The fireballing Daniel Palencia carved through the Brewers in the bottom of the seventh with strikeouts of Turang and Collins and a Chourio groundout on which he tripped leaving the box but was fine looked good again today: he struck out Amaya and got weak groundouts from Swanson and pinch-hitter Vidal Bruján Abner Uribe, Wicked 85mph Slider....and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/dnqPyAE8UG Old friend Drew Pomeranz was the pitcher for Chicago in the bottom of the eighth but Pomeranz struck out Yelich and got Hoskins to ground into a double play With the looming specter of how disastrous a late blown lead would be in this game Trevor Megill (who hadn’t pitched since Thursday) Megill got ahead of the leadoff hitter Happ but he knocked a 100-mph fastball into left field in a 1-2 count Megill got Suzuki for a loud first out (it went 366 feet to center field and was almost 99 mph off the bat) and Tucker stole second (and appeared to hurt himself but stayed in the game) to put two runs in scoring position but Megill struck out Busch looking and Hoerner swinging to end the game leaving PCA and his three homers in this series on deck but it was the bottom of the order that got the big hits Cameron was 1-for-2 with that huge two-out RBI single and Durbin had the game’s only extra-base hit that really shined this afternoon: against the red-hot Cubs offense Peralta allowed only four singles and one walk in six shutout innings while striking out seven and neither Koenig nor Uribe allowed a baserunner in their innings This win felt more like relief than anything else but it’s nice to get one after the first two games went so poorly The Brewers are back in action tomorrow night when they welcome Houston to town for a three-game set Post-game injury update from Adam McCalvy: Frelick will undergo an MRI on his knee Peralta was dealing with some groin discomfort but doesn’t believe it to be anything serious Freddy Peralta doesn’t believe his groin issue is anything to worry about He came out of the game after the sixth inning and effort to keep it that way By Nick Deeds | May 4 Burnes is long gone, already on his second team since departing Milwaukee prior to the 2024 season, but Woodruff remains in the organization after missing 2024 rehabbing surgery to repair a capsule tear in his shoulder. He’s yet to make his 2025 debut while finishing up his rehab process, but the right-hander’s return to the majors appears to be imminent. As noted by MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy Woodruff is expected to make two more rehab starts before he makes his return to the majors: one this coming Tuesday Woodruff will run out of time on his 30-day rehab assignment and need to be reinstated to the big league roster unless he suffers a setback that necessitates the team pulling him back from his rehab assignment Meanwhile, veteran right-hander Aaron Civale appears to be nearing a rehab assignment of is own with Hogg suggesting that the soon-to-be 30-year-old hurler is poised to begin a rehab assignment next week who made just one start this season before going on the shelf due to a hamstring strain behind Hall in terms of preparedness to return though perhaps after having a full spring training Civale won’t need as long of a rehab stint as the southpaw The righty posted a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts for the Brewers after being acquired from the Rays last July and would be a solid addition to the middle of Milwaukee’s rotation upon his return it’s possible that the club is changing gears with the lefty and plans to use him in long relief this season It’s a role Ashby looked quite good in last year as he posted a 2.86 ERA and 2.81 FIP despite being limited to just 28 1/3 innings of work Milwaukee Brewers Notes Aaron Ashby Aaron Civale Brandon Woodruff D.L. Hall 1 day ago “…give the club an elite 1-2 punch alongside Freddy Peralta.” Not sure why anyone still believes Peralta is somehow an “elite” starting pitcher He is no better than a #3 on a MLB roster He was way behind Myers and even behind Civale last year 1 day ago A guy who consistently puts up an ERA+ over 110 is definitley better than a #3 starter That’s like a #2 starter on a semi-decent team and there’s no way he’d be over Priester 22 hours ago 1 day ago Priester has been lit up recently after solid start 1 day ago I don’t think Woodruff is going to come in dominating from the start but if he can keep his ERA around 4 1 day ago By what metric was he “way behind” Myers Other than an extra 1+ bb/9 his metrics were as good 24 hours ago Civale and Patrick you can mix and match for a 5-6 man rotation 20 hours ago Jacob Misiorowski is off to a good start in AAA – Brewers have good depth but Id imagine Misiorowski could join the team at some point even with all the depth because he could make an immediate impact in the Brewer’s rotation Patrick is due for a regression I’d say 24 hours ago Maybe the owner should have supplemented the cheap Everyone is skirting around the bush of how cheap the owner is 21 hours ago many post here stating the owner (of any small market team) is cheap I believe that many of those posters are immature don’t understand baseball……or how MLB works think MLB is the same as rotisserie league 3 hours ago Plus as we know those free agents ALWAYS work out!!!!!!! 23 hours ago Milwaukee starters have a combined FIP of 4.94 And he’s considered an ace by this same writer Cubs fans should not be writing articles about division rivals like the Brewers and Cardinals 23 hours ago More silly “the writer is a Cubs fan” complaints 22 hours ago Look up a Cubs article about Shota Imanaga This guy has a pattern of writing biased articles for the Cubs and against their division rivals specifically the Brewers and Cardinals Why not just have a different writer do these articles instead 22 hours ago so they write about the relevant news during their shift 22 hours ago Yeah what’s relevant to this guy a Cubs fan lol 23 hours ago Jackson Churro has a 2:33 BB:K ratio yikes; don’t put him in the same conversation as Jackson Merrill yet 22 hours ago Holliday hit two dingers today in a loss to the Royals 21 hours ago I think in time all 3 will be superior ML players Pictured: Three Generations of Camerons @_mcameron44 pic.twitter.com/TMg8wk6sVH Peralta continues success with 6 scoreless innings in first May startMay 4th MILWAUKEE -- Mike Cameron's 17 years in the big leagues taught him that sometimes it takes just the smallest spark to fuel a turnaround And that’s just what he witnessed in the sixth inning on Sunday, when the Brewers capitalized in the wake of Cubs starter Shota Imanaga’s early exit and rode a four-run rally to a 4-0 victory at American Family Field It denied Chicago what would have been its first series sweep in Milwaukee in 10 years -- and Cameron’s son The spark came courtesy of Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather whose first offering after Imanaga injured his hamstring was a run-scoring wild pitch Daz Cameron’s RBI single and Caleb Durbin’s two-run double padded the lead Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill protected it by combining for a five-hit shutout to snap a three-game losing streak “I’m really proud of our ballclub to respond the way we did,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Pictured: Three Generations of Camerons @_mcameron44 pic.twitter.com/TMg8wk6sVH Frelick was undergoing an MRI scan on Sunday evening to determine the severity of his injury which comes with the Brewers already missing starting center fielder Garrett Mitchell (oblique) and 2024 Gold Glove Award finalist Blake Perkins (fractured shin) The backup plan at the moment is 28-year-old Cameron who entered Sunday 0-for-4 with a walk over his first week with the Brewers “I try to be low-key when I go to places to see him play but this is a little more special because I actually played hare,” said Mike Cameron “He got a chance to run around on the field when he was here at 12 years old “It was exciting that he’s here,” Daz Cameron said “Now that I’m seeing all the kids here [in the clubhouse] but Daz has been biding his time since a promotion from Triple-A Nashville where he’d homered six times in 11 power-packed games following a trade from Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate the Camerons joined Tito and Terry Francona and Davey and Derrick May as the only father-son duos in Brewers history but we know what type of player he is,” Durbin said “There’s a lot of confidence there when he’s up at the plate Durbin’s two-run double represented another big hit for the Brewers who had not led in any point of their previous three games while getting outscored by a 24-2 margin Peralta gave his team a chance by holding the potent Cubs lineup scoreless on four hits through six innings before he departed at the 89-pitch mark with a minor groin issue I knew the importance of this game for this team “We were going to do what we had to do to get a win and turn the page.” he finally had the run support that he the Brewers needed “You saw how the energy came in that inning,” said Peralta who credited Christian Yelich for legging out a fielder’s choice to extend the inning on the play that saw Imanaga injured The Brewers will aim to keep it going when the Astros come to Milwaukee on Monday night but Mike Cameron expected his visit to be brief He prefers to let Daz play without dad looking over his shoulder “The pitching would kill me right now,” Mike Cameron said But I get a chance to see it now in a different perspective wishing that my kid will have an opportunity to play well I know how tough it is to play at the Major League level.” Brewers 'bobbing and weaving' to stay in huntMay 4th MILWAUKEE – One of the many jobs of a Major League manager is to exude optimism when reasons for pessimism abound. Take the Brewers, who went 21 innings without scoring a run before finally breaking through to tie Saturday’s game in the third inning, only to have the Cubs answer with a pair of homers in a four-run fourth on the way to sending Milwaukee to a 6-2 loss at American Family Field The Brewers are down at the moment. Manager Pat Murphy knows it. His club has lost seven of its last 10 games, including three in a row. The last two losses were at the hands of the rival Cubs, who lead the National League in scoring and spent Saturday night roughing up Brewers starter Jose Quintana the veteran left-hander who yielded as many home runs -- three -- as he’d allowed runs The Brewers have baseball’s lowest average exit velocity at the plate and the NL’s second-highest bullpen ERA They have yet to win a game when the opponent scores first (0-12) Yet Murphy spent Saturday trying to be positive “It seems like we’ve misplaced our edge,” Murphy said The Cubs are creating urgency with the way they’re hitting -- and winning three-run homer from scorching-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong and solo shots from Dansby Swanson and Kyle Tucker Chicago has pushed the Brewers five games back of first place in the NL Central with a little more than one-fifth of the season in the books “Luckily, this is early still. I don’t want to fall into that, because at some point it’s not early,” said Rhys Hoskins who teamed with Brewers closer Trevor Megill for Milwaukee’s highlight of the day in the fourth inning when Hoskins homered to the home bullpen and Megill caught the baseball in his cap and did a little dance the biggest acquisition of the Cubs’ busy offseason led off the next half-inning with a home run It was the last of Chicago’s six earned runs and seven hits off Quintana “I think they have really good momentum right now,” Quintana said They took advantage of a couple of mistakes tonight in the zone.” The Cubs are Freddy Peralta’s problem on Sunday as the Brewers already ensured their first series loss at home this season look to avoid being swept for the first time “They’re relentless at-bats,” Hoskins said of the Cubs “It’s just professional at-bats up and down the lineup and I think we’ve seen that either with the home run or stringing together a couple of hits and then a walk and then another good at-bat and all of a sudden it’s a multi-run inning We saw that a lot from ourselves last year “Maybe they have some bigger names over there But with what we’re capable of doing and the pressure we can put on teams I think we can score runs in bunches as well We’re just not putting it together right now.” Murphy’s theory is that the Brewers will turn a corner once they stabilize their pitching and there are reasons for optimism on that front Brandon Woodruff is scheduled to make his next rehab start for Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday then will probably make one more Minor League start before coming off the IL his first Major League start since 2023 could fall during the Brewers’ May 16-18 home series against the Twins Aaron Civale (hamstring) threw live batting practice on Saturday and is slated to start a rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville on Wednesday DL Hall (lat) began a rehab assignment on Saturday in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and will be built up to start before the Brewers decide whether he fits best in the big league rotation or bullpen Aaron Ashby (oblique) could be back in the Majors before the end of May in some role Nestor Cortes (elbow) has reported “feeling better” and could return around the All-Star break “We’re bobbing and weaving and trying to survive not lose too many rounds and then be in position to win a decision,” Murphy said “It doesn’t look like we’re going to knock them out like we did last year PCA's power surge continues in front of 'second home' crowdMay 4th MILWAUKEE – There was a mixed reception for Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong at American Family Field on Saturday night Brewers fans did what they could to send a chorus of boos raining down from the stands but the chants that have followed the young star were out in force once again The exuberant cries of “P-C-A!” during his at-bats are understandable, as Crow-Armstrong continued his torrid start to this season with another game-changing home run. The center fielder’s three-run shot in the fourth inning Saturday helped propel the North Siders to a 6-2 victory over Milwaukee “I didn’t hear any boos,” Crow-Armstrong said “I’m so impressed with the turnouts that we get over here the last couple years Crow-Armstrong sure feels at home in the batter’s box right now During Friday’s 10-0 romp over the Brewers the center fielder belted a pair of home runs including one on a slider from righty reliever Joel Payamps that was just 0.86 feet off the ground Crow-Armstrong’s fourth-inning blast on Saturday came on a full-count fastball from lefty Jose Quintana that tailed to the outer “He’s just hitting everything,” said Cubs starter Jameson Taillon who held the Brewers to two runs over six innings It’s not like he’s just doing one thing and hitting mistakes Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson connected for back-to-back home runs off Quintana in the fourth and Kyle Tucker added a solo blast one frame later It was another quick-strike attack by a Chicago lineup that has paced the National League in run scoring out of the gates The three homers in the past two games for Crow-Armstrong gave him nine on the season with all of those shots coming within his past 17 games the 23-year-old center fielder is leading the Majors in homers it kind of stands out,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said “The ball feels like it’s just exploding off his bat.” Crow-Armstrong’s last 17 games have featured a .343/.353/.866 slash line to go along with six doubles He is the first Cubs batter to have at least nine homers and 21 RBIs in a 17-game span since Kris Bryant in 2019 and the only hitter in franchise history to hit those marks and have at least six steals combined with his elite defense in center -- he leads MLB with seven Outs Above Average -- has Crow-Armstrong in a tie with Mets star Pete Alonso and Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr Only Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (3.5) ranks higher at the moment “This is star-level production -- no question about it,” Counsell said But what great players can do is affect the game in a lot of ways That showed in Crow-Armstrong’s battle with the veteran Quintana who entered the night 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA on the campaign the Brewers lefty stuck with sinkers and slurves for the first five pitches Crow-Armstrong saw the same two offerings -- though over the heart of the plate -- in their initial meeting in the second “It didn’t look like a terrible pitch,” Counsell said The ball jumped off Crow-Armstrong’s bat at 103.7 mph and soared out to right-center field for the three-run shot The Cubs fans in attendance did their part to drown out the scattered boos for the budding star Crow-Armstrong did get a kick out of hearing the local fans give it to Counsell “Counse getting booed every time he comes in I kind of love it,” Crow-Armstrong said with a laugh rowdy environment when we come to play Milwaukee.” Daz Cameron, whose first hit as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers played a big role in the team's 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday found a moment in the spotlight with his father With Sal Frelick needing an MRI on his sore knee it's possible we see more of Cameron in the coming weeks Here's what to know about the Brewers outfielder. Cameron was a guest on this week's Journal Sentinel Brewers podcast, "Microbrew": He was drafted in the first round by the Houston Astros in 2015 How did Daz Cameron do in the minor leagues?He only played 11 games at Class AAA Nashville stole three bases and amassed a ridiculous 1.273 OPS in 52 plate appearances the former first-round pick has a .765 OPS in the minors He hasn't found that same success in the major leagues 15 career stolen bases and a .263 on-base percentage Mike Cameron played 17 years in the big leagues as an outfielder The former season was particularly memorable as the year the club snapped its 26-year playoff drought with Cameron contributing heavily to the team's 90-win season The Brewers signed him as a 34-year-old free agent before that season and he became the team's regular starting center fielder He battled .243 that year with an .809 OPS and belted 25 homers tied for the second-best mark of his career Cameron hit another 24 and again drove in 70 runs In the unforgettable 2008 finale against the Cubs Cameron singled in the eighth against Bob Howry and was on base when Ryan Braun belted a go-ahead home run with two outs the necessary runs in a 3-1 win that helped Milwaukee clinch the National League wild card Mike Cameron was a one-time all-star (2001 with Seattle) and also played with the Chicago White Sox He last played Major League Baseball in 2011 who was 11 and 12 during his father's two seasons in Milwaukee has vivid memories of those Brewers seasons including playing in the cages with Trevor Hoffman's kids during the 2009 season "I can remember going to the ballpark every day most of the time when guys were going to the field early," Cameron said just to see every guy go about his business and prepare for the game and his routine." 75 on MLB Pipeline's list of top 100 prospects in 2016 a year after the Astros made him a first-round pick he was just behind current Cub Kyle Tucker and ahead of current Cub Ian Happ both of whom played for Chicago against Cameron in the May 2-4 series Cameron was a top-10 prospect in the Detroit Tigers organization after the club acquired him in the deal that sent Justin Verlander to Houston Cameron made his Major League debut in 2020 and played in 73 games for Detroit over the next three years but he was unable to land a full-time starting gig He spent the 2022 season in the Orioles organization and signed as a free agent with Oakland before last season before the Orioles again purchased his contract after the 2024 season Has a father-son combination ever played for the Brewers before?This is the third instance. Tito Francona played his final big-league games with the inaugural Milwaukee Brewers team in 1970 current Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona also played his final two years in Milwaukee Dave May was teammates with Tito in 1970 and played with the Brewers from 1970 through 1974 including an all-star 1973 season in which May led the league in total bases (295) and hit 25 home runs May was traded before the 1975 season for Hank Aaron who returned to the Brewers for two final seasons in Milwaukee Dave May returned briefly to the Brewers in 1978 signed as a free agent before the season before getting traded to Houston Shota Imanaga takes the bump for Chicago this afternoon and he'll ensure the Cubbies complete the sweep over Milwaukee This article contains predictions for an old game The Chicago Cubs are on the verge of a series sweep when they meet the Milwaukee Brewers for Game 3 of their three-game series Shota Imanaga has allowed one earned run in his last 17 away innings Brewers predictions expect him and Chicago to pull out the brooms today.  Read on for my MLB picks for Sunday My Cubs vs Brewers best bet: Cubs moneyline (-110 at Caesars) The Chicago Cubs have scored 16 runs through the first two games of this series as they’ve tallied the most in baseball (202) and have eight or more in three of their previous five Freddy Peralta has been their nemesis. The Milwaukee Brewers' righty has held this Cubs lineup to a .171/.271/.342 slash line with 42 punchouts across 117 career at bats That will make scoring runs tough, but they may not need many to win, as they’ll send lefty Shota Imanaga to the mound against an inconsistent Brewers lineup Imanaga won’t blow the Brew Crew away and has allowed only one earned run in 17 away frames this season Milwaukee has plated only two runs in its last three contests Imanaga and his off-speed stuff have troubled the Brewers and he’ll likely trouble them again today I’ll bet on the combination of Imanaga’s arm and its bullpen to pull off the series sweep today Four of the last five meetings have ended Under the number and Peralta has dominated the Cubs' present lineup One Cub Peralta hasn’t dominated is Jon Berti He’s 3-for-5 with a double and one bomb and has hit safely in five of his previous six games.  The Chicago Cubs are 4-1-0 across their last five road games. Find more MLB betting trends for Cubs vs Phil Naessens spent 38 years as a resident tennis pro in Las Vegas He’s the past host of the Phil Naessens Show (Armed Forces Radio) and currently hosts the tennis betting podcast Phil is the author of the Betting 101 series (MLB and Tennis) and has written for numerous publications including SB Nation Phil curates the Chip and Charge Tennis Newsletter and pens a weekly tennis column called “10 Things About the ATP Tour," for Passing Shot Productions.  Phil has numerous betting accounts in the US and Europe and his best advice is to line shop for the best value possible Struggling Brewers look to salvage game three It has been a rough three days for Brewers fans, as a disappointing (if acceptable) loss to the lowly White Sox on Thursday was followed by two utter no-shows in the biggest games of the season so far. The Brewers’ offense has been missing in action since the first two games of the series on the South Side, and a barrage of Cubs homers in the last two games has put the Brewers behind early in both If the team and its fans were going to use this series as a measuring stick are what the Brewers thought they would be only with the “go-for-it” addition of Kyle Tucker and the big-market advantage of being able to sign Shota Imanaga It will be Imanaga on the hill for the Cubs today as they go for the sweep facing off against the Brewers’ number one A sign of a great ace is the ability to end a slide and that’s what Milwaukee will be asking Peralta to do this afternoon Though he has flashed the tendency to play with his food which has been so frustrating to Brewers’ fans in the past Peralta has had an undeniably good season to this point Peralta holds a 2.52 ERA in 39 1⁄3 innings His walks and strikeouts are basically in line with what he’s done his whole career though the strikeouts are a touch lower — the 9.4 per nine mark he’s currently posting would be the lowest of his career The optimist would say that this is a change in approach in which he’s trying to induce weaker contact and get out of at-bats a bit sooner; that same optimist would point to his career-low BABIP and say that it’s working The pessimist would say that he’s lost a little bit on his stuff and the low BABIP is an indicator of coming regression Imanaga has thrown essentially the exact same amount as Freddy but his strikeouts are low (just 6.9 per nine innings compared to 9.0 last season) The results remain — his 2.77 ERA is better than last year — but his high FIP (4.85) reflects the step backward in peripherals but if there’s any shakiness in those underlying numbers the Brewers will need to look to capitalize Still looking to find a combination that will get results Pat Murphy has again shuffled the struggling lineup but it’ll be left fielder Isaac Collins batting behind him and Brice Turang on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network Sunday Crew : @FanDuelSN_WI : @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew X @fleet_farm pic.twitter.com/Sle9jjUV70 3 of 3 in Brew City.Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network app. pic.twitter.com/d2j33twGFM is still out on the trade that brought Quinn Priester to Milwaukee But early deliberations have begun, and they aren’t trending in a positive way for the Milwaukee Brewers’ side Traded on April 7 from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for top-10 prospect Yophery Rodriguez and the 33rd overall pick in the upcoming draft Priester’s up-and-down first month with the Brewers took a turn in the wrong direction against the Chicago Cubs on May 2 A seven-run second inning that featured two walks a grand slam and another home run marred the evening for Priester and the Brewers in front of an American Family Field crowd that was chanting the name of Chicago center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong by night’s end this entry in the proceedings wasn’t a positive one for Priester’s case But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have support from up high on his side "He's going to be a great one," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said That was admittedly before Priester gave up a seven-spot before the Brewers could even take their second turn at bat But that didn't change Murphy's tone after the game all that much “You can say Priester was awful if you want to but there’s some signs that you can see why we (traded for) him There are some signs that show the kid’s got really good stuff and he’s a great competitor.” who settled in just enough to save the bullpen though the 24-year-old right-hander himself acknowledged which end of the spectrum carries more weight “A little bit of good doesn’t make up for the bad,” Priester said borne of necessity and perhaps some desperation as the Brewers battled a slew of injuries to their starting rotation He began his time with Milwaukee in encouraging fashion throwing five one-run innings at altitude against the Colorado Rockies He kept his sinker down and the ball stayed mostly on the ground Priester’s next start had a solid final line – he allowed only one hit through five innings – but there was trouble brewing under the hood as he walked three and allowed a hard-hit rate over 50% like a saucer with WD-40 sprayed on the bottom Half of his pitches were balls and he was pulled after four innings against San Francisco on April 21 Then he allowed 11 base runners and five runs in five innings the next time out at St Diagnosing where his outing against the Cubs went wrong in the early going was like trying to find a happy Chicago fan at the game “Combination of making bad pitches with two strikes and walking guys,” Priester said “I think we probably would’ve had better results if we did one of those things.” Against the first batter he saw after coming in for the opener Tyler Alexander with two outs in the first Priester threw an 0-2 sinker right down the middle It was lined to right for a run-scoring single Priester threw another two-strike sinker down the middle The party was just getting going for the Cubs The grand slam hadn’t even arrived yet until Michael Busch took an 0-2 pitch out to left-center to push the score to 8-0 Priester did eventually settle in to at least get through the fifth and not totally tax the bullpen but not until after Crow-Armstrong had deposited a hanging changeup 418 feet from home to make it 9-0 and rounded the bases to chants of his name from the ballpark’s toll-paying denizens So it’s like a rookie out there,” Murphy said of the way the inning snowballed What do the Brewers have in Priester?The second-inning struggle aside – Priester really poor second inning” – there is a larger overarching question around the right-hander what might they have on the other side of his development “He’s not a finished product,” Murphy said Priester’s expected ERA was in the 30th percentile in baseball (4.57) His chase (23.8%) and whiff (21.2%) rates were both in the 21th percentile and that translated to a 12th-percentile strikeout percentage (15.3%) To have a chance at making that work at the major-league level either; he’s walked only one fewer than he’s struck out Can Priester be more than the arm with the 6.15 career ERA it’s best for both the Brewers and Priester’s long term outlook for him to spend some time progressing his development in Nashville one of the organization’s top prospects who had a dazzling debut last month which would make for a seemingly simple swap That’s a discussion the Brewers held following the 10-0 loss Milwaukee’s second shutout defeat by seven or more runs something that had only happened once prior in franchise history your options for starters get a little thin,” Murphy said “Now we have some pretty solid ones here but these games are going to happen It gives them a lot of momentum and they’ve played great this month ‘What is the best route for (Priester)?’ I think he showed some signs there’s somebody that can compete in there The stuff shows at times but his command has been an issue “We’ll weigh the options of what’s a better choice for us on that day and make those decisions probably tonight or tomorrow.” While that kind of deliberation goes on behind closed doors at American Family Field there are still those with a rosy outlook on the long-term conversation regarding Priester “I think the kid’s going to be really good,” Murphy said One tough break for the Chicago Cubs opened the door to one big inning for the Milwaukee Brewers as a four-run rally following an injury to Shota Imanaga held up for a 4-0 victory at American Family Field on Sunday afternoon who had cruised through the first five frames suffered a left hamstring strain while covering first base and left the game immediately thereafter The Brewers broke up the scoreless tie on the very next pitch and tacked on three more runs from there as they avoided being swept by the Central Division leaders Freddy Peralta matched Imanaga’s performance dominating Chicago over six shutout innings Milwaukee did suffer an injury of its own along the way with Sal Frelick being removed from the game following the third inning with what the team termed left knee discomfort and the door opensFor the first time since the first inning Milwaukee put some pressure on Imanaga when Jackson Chourio singled to lead off the sixth and two batters later William Contreras walked Christian Yelich followed by pulling a grounder to the right side and eventually beat the relay throw leaving runners on the corners with two outs But Imanaga pulled his left hamstring while hurrying over to cover first and had to be lifted by manager Craig Counsell as Julian Merryweather uncorked a wild pitch on his first offering after Rhys Hoskins was walked intentionally Daz Cameron dunked a single into short right to score Yelich to make it a 2-0 game and Caleb Durbin followed with a hustle double to center that increased the lead to 4-0 manager Pat Murphy pulled Peralta (4-2) at 89 pitches He scattered four hits and a walk while striking out seven Closer Trevor Megill allowed the first two batters to reach base in the ninth but retired the next three to nail down the fifth shutout of the season for the Brewers it was unsurprising to see the offenses struggle The Brewers managed consecutive singles in the first inning against Imanaga but failed to advance either baserunner put a little more pressure on Peralta with their leadoff batter reaching in the second Peralta buckled down and kept them from advancing with 12 swings and misses while topping out at 97.9 mph with his fastball through six innings Brewers scheduleBrewers vs. Astros The Milwaukee Brewers host the Chicago Cubs on May 4 First pitch from American Family Field is scheduled for 2:10 p.m ET; the game will be broadcast on FDSWI and MLB.TV The Cubs enter as -120 favorites on the moneyline with the over/under sitting at 7.5 Find my Cubs vs Brewers prediction and MLB betting preview below which continue to pop out a plus-money pick showcasing value who hit his ninth home run of the season just yesterday he featured prominently in our PRO Projections' home run parlay Today, our projection system indicates strong potential for Tucker to hit another home run at Miller Park, with BetMGM offering odds at +425 — significantly better than the other lowest available odds of +340 PRO Projections have demonstrated an exceptional ability to predict outcomes at Miller Park this season like having accurately forecasted TJ Friedl's lone home run Tucker's matchup against starter Freddy Peralta is promising as he has faced Peralta three times in his career and successfully reached base all three times PRO’s probability for a home run today stands at 0.28 ranking among the highest projections for any hitter Tucker’s StatCast is virtually all red. He’s not chasing many pitches, and when he makes contact, it’s usually loud and travels a long, long way. At +425, betting Tucker to homer sounds like a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Pick: Kyle Tucker to Hit a Home Run (+425) Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. This marked the first matchup of the season between the NL Central-leading Cubs and the Brewers who won this division each of the last two seasons Chicago took the lead for good by scoring two runs in the first inning off Tyler Alexander (1-3), who served as the Brewers’ opener before giving way to Quinn Priester The Cubs scored seven runs against Priester in the second to break the game open Busch sent an 0-2 curve over the wall in left-center field for his sixth homer of the season Crow-Armstrong delivered a 418-foot blast to center on a 1-2 changeup Crow-Amstrong went deep again in the seventh inning, hitting a 399-foot shot to right on a 2-1 slider from Joel Payamps for his eighth homer of the season Cubs starter Ben Brown (3-2) struck out four in six innings while allowing four hits and no walks. Chris Flexen worked the final three innings for his third career save The Brewers were shut out again two nights after closing a 10-game trip with an 8-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox The last time the Brewers were shut out in back-to-back games was in May 2023 After allowing a leadoff single to Dansby Swanson in the second, Priester walked Nicky Lopez on a 3-2 sinker and then walked Ian Happ on four pitches to load the bases with nobody out Those two walks set the stage for the Cubs’ seven-run outburst Crow-Armstrong's two homers from the No 7 spot in the lineup continued the Cubs’ run of success from the bottom third of their lineup The Cubs have 18 homers this season from players batting seventh They entered Friday leading the majors in that category Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (1-1 4.01 ERA) goes against Brewers LHP José Quintana (4-0 AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb Williams and Adames haven't exactly been setting the world on fire with their new teams Williams even lost the closer job with the Yankees, and Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller listed him as the Yankees biggest weakness "Remember in 2022 when Josh Hader went on a paternity leave in mid-June and then after initially pitching well upon his return Maybe that's what's going on with Williams as opposed to the alternative that last October's implosion broke him The Yankees aren't exercising patience But he'll probably get his mojo and his job back by the All-Star Break," Miller wrote but he's 0-2 with an 8.18 ERA with the Bronx Bombers but they'll need the former Brewer to find his groove again soon A deflating 10-0 loss opens this big three-game series In a game that was over almost before it started, the Chicago Cubs made a strong statement to the Milwaukee Brewers The red-hot Cubs offense spat on Pat Murphy’s idea to use Tyler Alexander to open for Quinn Priester and jumped all over Brewers pitchers who looked unfit for the moment this game was over before the Brewers sent four hitters to the plate Murphy’s idea to use Alexander as the opener did not go very well He started the game by giving up back-to-back singles to Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker and while he did get a big strikeout of Seiya Suzuki for the first out another single — this one from Carson Kelly — scored the game’s first run Alexander then got the second out on a fielder’s choice when Michael Busch grounded to first base and with two outs and runners on the corners Murphy decided to move to the originally scheduled starter but Hoerner managed to shoot a single into right field for a big two-out hit Pete Crow-Armstrong then grounded out to end the inning but Chicago was up before the Brewers had a chance to hit Brice Turang gave Milwaukee’s offense a positive start with a single up the middle but Jackson Chourio flew out on the first pitch he saw and Christian Yelich hit a hard grounder right at Hoerner for an easy double play who through a whole bunch of really bad two-strike pitches in this game left a 2-2 pitch over the middle to Dansby Swanson who led off the second inning with another single Nine-hole hitter Nicky Lopez and Happ then drew consecutive walks and Priester was in deep trouble in the second inning with the bases loaded and the scariest part of Chicago’s order coming up Priester’s first pitch to Suzuki was a slider that nearly hit him in the head and while Priester did have a pretty solid sequence after that the at-bat ended with bad luck: a high pop fly in exactly a spot where no one could get it but was still in fair territory the training staff needed to check on Turang who is recovering from illness and had sprinted a long way trying to catch Suzuki’s pop-up Turang stayed in the game and made a nice play a couple pitches later; Kelly hit a chopper up the middle fielded it and threw home for the first out Busch took an 0-2 curveball that didn’t get low enough (but was probably slightly off the plate) and hit an opposite-field grand slam into the Brewers’ bullpen Milwaukee had recorded four outs and given up eight runs when he was behind in the count — got a changeup right in the middle of the zone and hit another homer but the Cubs had just about put this one out of reach before the Brewers had their fourth plate appearance With cheers pouring in from the Chicago-friendly crowd it was an embarrassing first two innings for the Milwaukee Brewers William Contreras started a new hitting streak with a base hit to lead off the bottom of the second but Sal Frelick popped out in foul territory and Rhys Hoskins struck out for the first two outs Isaac Collins knocked a two-out single to put two on for Joey Ortiz but he hit it to the deepest part of the ballpark Milwaukee had three balls with exit velocities over 102 in the second but just two singles and no runs to show for it and then Happ walked on a 3-2 pitch that was … about half a foot inside the strike zone Truly one of the worst missed strike calls I’ve ever seen probably better than letting Priester throw him strikes Suzuki grounded to third and Durbin stepped on the bag for the second out but when he threw to first to try to get the double play and Tucker advanced to third base with no one paying attention Ortiz made a nice play in the hole on a Kelly ground ball and ended the inning The Brewers went down in order in the third but at least Chourio took the first pitch before swinging at the next three Priester recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth but all Milwaukee could muster in the bottom of the inning was a two-out Frelick single three-down inning in the fifth — where was this earlier — but the Brewers also failed to get anything in the bottom of the inning Figuring that Turang didn’t need to keep playing at less than 100% health Murphy substituted him with Vinny Capra in the top of the sixth He made another odd move in this inning: having already burned the long man three-down inning against a Cubs lineup that had maybe taken its foot off the gas Chourio again flew out to shallow right on the first pitch (so much for the first-pitch take we saw earlier) Myers only pitched one inning and gave way to Joel Payamps in the top of the seventh but PCA golfed a slider that was about a foot below the zone out to right It was a ridiculous pitch to hit a home run on Frelick and Collins walked in the seventh (and Daz Cameron pinch ran for Frelick) but Milwaukee couldn’t do anything with them Payamps pitched a 1-2-3 eighth in his second inning of work The Brewers were retired in order in the bottom of the inning including strikeouts by Chourio and Yelich Jake Bauers was the pitcher in the top of the ninth making his fourth appearance already this season (and second in two days) He gave up a couple of hits but managed his fourth scoreless appearance of the year Maybe he should join the bullpen on a full-time basis The Brewers could muster nothing against Chris Flexen The game mercifully ended with a final score of 10-0 This was a humiliating effort in a game that you’d expect the Brewers to show up for They haven’t scored in 19 innings and managed just five singles and two walks tonight I guess it’s hard to blame them for appearing to give up after falling behind by nine so early so the Brewers will go back out there tomorrow at 6:10 p.m for a matchup between Jose Quintana and Jameson Taillon