[jksander]

April 29, 2025: Noah Syndergaard (0-1, 4.44 ERA, 26.1 IP, 16 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) started against Milwaukee’s Nestor Cortes (3-0, 2.61 ERA, 31.1 IP, 31 K’s, 1.13 WHIP), and in the bottom of the first we got the lead, Lenyn Sosa batting home Starling Marte with an RBI double and Tauchman scoring from third moments later when Vargas hit into a fielder’s choice. Reaching safely as the throw to home failed. Syndergaard got us through the top of the sixth, and with a lefty heavy stretch upcoming for Brewers hitters we brought out Martin Perez to pitch in the seventh, and he got us into the stretch still holding a shutout. Michael A. Taylor tagged up and scored off a sac-fly by Meidroth in the bottom of the inning, and Perez handled the top of the eighth crisply. Brandon Eisert came out in the ninth to protect the three-run lead and close things out, and despite letting two runners on board in the inning, he got Owen Miller to ground out to first, stranding both as he completed the shared shutout to win 3-0. Syndergaard gave us six innings with just four hits and four strikeouts, improving to 1-1 with a 3.62 ERA, while Perez had a great two inning appearance, with just one hit through 27 pitches ... he now has a 5.16 ERA through 22.2 innings. Eisert then saved his fifth game in his sixth save opportunity, remaining locked in without a run against him now through 7.1 innings over eight appearances. The Brewers outhit us 6-4, but Lenyn Sosa led the way in the first inning, finishing with a hit, a walk, and the RBI that started it all.

April 30, 2025: Ryan Weber (1-3, 3.33 ERA, 27.0 IP, 19 K’s, 1.07 WHIP) pitched against Milwaukee’s Aaron Civale (4-1, 2.89 ERA, 37.1 IP, 34 K’s, 0.99 WHIP) in our second game, and Weber got by on guile for the first two innings but got sloppy in the third ... Sal Frelick got on board with a one-out double, stole third and then came home on a passed ball, giving the Brewers an early 1-0 lead. He managed to get through the fifth inning without any more scoring, and in the bottom of the fifth we took the lead with a two-run blast by Austin Slater, his first of the season! Penn Murfee took over in the sixth, but he wound up with a blown save as Garrett Mitchell hit a homer out of center to tie it up 2-2 with two outs. Craig Kimbrel took over in the seventh, still tied, and again with two outs they hit us for a long one, this time Jackson Chourio hitting the two-run slam out of left to push the Brewers back into the lead 4-2. Justin Dunn came out with men on the corners, still two outs, stranding both runners with a groundout to first by Mitchell. Dunn got us through the eighth, and Shane Smith pitched in the ninth but our bats had nothing left to offer and we lost 4-2. Weber had five solid innings with five hits, a walk, three strikeouts and a single earned run, but Murfee blew the save (his third) and Kimbrel took the loss, falling to 1-1 with a 7.11 ERA with two hits, two walks and two earned runs. They outhit us 9-4, with Slater’s two-run homer our only offense.

May 1, 2025: Sean Burke (0-4, 4.85 ERA, 26.0 IP, 28 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) faced Freddie Peralta (3-2, 4.09 ERA, 33.0 IP, 44 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) in the third game of the Milwaukee series, and it only took about five minutes for the Brewers to take the lead, Jackson Chourio hitting an RBI single to put them up a run in the top of the first on one out. Our defense was terrible in the inning, and I’m amazed we got out of there with just one more run scoring, trailing 2-0 before our team even batted once. They added on another three runs in the top of the third and then loaded the bases, at which point this one became a rout. We finally got into the botom of the inning trailing 7-0, and it was clear Burke’s night was over. Jonathan Cannon took over in the fourth and Perez in the seventh ... they pounded us for three more runs in the top of the eighth before we brought Murfee out with two outs, and we wound up losing 10-1, our only run coming in garbage time in the bottom of the ninth as Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single to score Teel. Burke had a brutal night, lasting three innings with eight hits, four walks, four strikeouts and seven runs (six earned) as he fell to 0-5 with a 6.21 ERA through seven starts. They outhit us 14-8, Teel leading the way for us with two hits and a run scored.

At 8-23, we know what our team is at this point. Next up we’ll face the Nomadic Athletics (15-15) here on our field for three as we tr to find any silver linings we can as the long season progresses.