CLEVELAND — As if losing a game wasn’t tough enough, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell had a mystery to solve after the game. Right-hander Wily Peralta started for the Brewers, but only pitched 2 2/3 very ugly innings.
“His velocity was down tonight, which is concerning,” said Counsell. “There’s nothing wrong with him physically, but we’ve got to try to figure out what’s going on.”
Peralta gave up four runs, two earned, on six hits, with two walks and one strikeout. He gave up two runs in each of the first two innings and threw 71 pitches in his brief outing. “We’re not seeing the guy we expected to see,” said Counsell. “He was 89 to 90 mph for a lot of the night.”
Counsell said Peralta’s velocity early was closer to where it should be. “He was 92-93 in the first inning. A lot of time you see starters work into their velocity as the game goes on,” Counsell said. “So this wasn’t a huge red flag early, but the game didn’t go like it normally does when he pitches.”
A 17-game winner with a 3.53 ERA last year, Peralta’s 2015 season was derailed early when he spent two months on the disabled list in the first half of the season due to a strained oblique. With his loss Tuesday Peralta’s record falls to 4-8 with a 4.55 ERA.
If there is a silver lining for Counsell it’s that Peralta’s performance Tuesday had nothing to do with any sort of injury. “He has no physical issues at all,” said Counsell. “It’s possible this could just be some fatigue late in the season, but this was a little unusual tonight.”