Wily Peralta outdueled by Jon Lester; Brewers fall to Cubs 1-0
By Phil Watson
Wily Peralta made one mistake Friday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs and it was enough to make the difference as the Milwaukee Brewers opened May with the same offensive inconsistency that plagued them in April.
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Addison Russell hit his first major-league home run off Peralta to lead off the bottom of the third inning to propel the Cubs to a 1-0 win over the Brewers at Wrigley Field.
The Brewers were held to four hits and were shut out for the fourth time already this season. Milwaukee (5-18) was blanked by the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day and has been shut out by the St. Louis Cardinals twice already (April 16, April 24).
The Brewers were shut out 11 times in the 2014 season.
Left-hander Jon Lester (1-2), signed to a six-year, $155 million free-agent deal over the winter, shut down the Crew on three hits over seven innings, earning his first career win against the Brewers in three career starts while also getting his first victory as a Cub.
Lester threw 90 pitches, walking one and fanning four.
The Brewers did get the tying run into scoring position against Chicago closer Hector Rondon in the ninth when Jason Rogers cracked a two-out double to center field, but Rondon got pinch-hitter Adam Lind to ground out to end the game. It was Rondon’s fifth save.
Milwaukee had a chance in the second, loading the bases on singles by Rogers and Gerardo Parra and a two-out walk to Luis Jimenez, but Peralta struck out to end the threat.
Jean Segura opened the third by getting hit by a pitch, moved up to second on a sacrifice by Hector Gomez and stole third, but Lester struck out Ryan Braun and got Khris Davis to pop out.
“It’s going to get better,” Braun told MLB.com. The Brewers are one of two teams, along with the Texas Rangers, without consecutive victories this season.
“Our starters are going to end up with a collective ERA that’s significantly lower than what it is right now (5.22),” Braun said. “Our offense will end up with an average higher than what it is right now (.224). Somehow, some way, those things come close to evening themselves out.”
Peralta (0-4) battled through six innings, allowing eight hits and walking two with six strikeouts. He threw 118 pitches to get that far.
“[Peralta] is battling too hard for his stuff,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “He’s doing a great job because he doesn’t have his good command and he keeps us in ballgames. You look at his outing today and he gives up one run and it’s a really nice job. But he’s working way too hard to get to that.”
Jeremy Jeffress fanned one in a scoreless seventh and Jonathan Broxton worked around a hit and a walk with two strikeouts while blanking Chicago (13-8) in the eighth.
Parra was 2-for-3 and Rogers 2-for-4 while starting at first base in place of Lind against the tough left-hander Lester. The rest of the Brewer lineup combined to go 0-for-23.
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Milwaukee is getting some good news for Saturday, as center fielder Carlos Gomez will be activated from the disabled list after missing the last 15 games with an injured hamstring. He was hurt April 16 against the Cardinals in St. Louis.
Gomez was hitting .235/.257/.441 through the first eight games before he was injured, with a home run and six RBI.
“For the last 15 days, I’ve been really frustrated. I couldn’t do anything to help my team move forward,” Gomez told MLB.com. “I think when I’m in the lineup, it’s a little bit different. We’re going to be a little bit better. The team has started to play better. We still lost some games, but it’s not like before.”
The Brewers will send right-hander Mike Fiers (0-3, 5.79 ERA) to the mound Saturday at 1:20 p.m., with the Cubs countering with right-hander Jake Arrieta (3-1, 2.03).
Arrieta is 2-2 in five career starts against Milwaukee with a 2.59 ERA. Against Chicago, Fiers is 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA in four career appearances, three of them starts, with 27 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. He had a career-high 14 strikeouts in six innings of a 6-2 win at Wrigley Field last Aug. 14.