Those working the kitchen at George Webb Restaurants in Wisconsin can turn off the grill.
No burgers for you, Brewers fans!
The Milwaukee Brewers fell shy of their 12th consecutive victory Tuesday night in Seattle, managing just two hits in a 1-0 defeat. The three-game interleague series wraps up Wednesday afternoon.
The loss deprived fans of cashing in on a promotion that dates back to the late 1940s, when the restaurant’s namesake predicted a 12-game winning streak for the then-minor-league Brewers.
The deal continued when Milwaukee was home to the major-league Braves from 1953-65 and was resurrected by George Webb’s son, Jim, when the Brewers came to town in 1970.
The promotion has come to fruition only twice in Brewers history — in 1987 and 2018. The restaurant, which has locations throughout Wisconsin, gave away nearly 170,000 hamburgers over a three-day period in 1987 and about 190,000 in 2018, according to OnMilwaukee.com.
Brewers fans will go hungry because of Cal Raleigh, who accounted for the lone run with his major league-leading 39th homer of the season in the sixth inning.
“Raleigh’s one of the best hitters in the game right now … we gave up a home run to the best home-run hitter in the game,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He hit a decent pitch.”
Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings before being relieved after 64 pitches. The right-hander, who represented the National League in the All-Star Game after just his fifth major-league start, allowed three hits, walked one and struck out seven.
“You can’t give him that big of a rest and then let him go out there (like) his normal start. You got to build him up, so we thought somewhere (about) 55 pitches,” Murphy said. “I thought he was very good. Electric in the first inning, and then, you know, it came down a little bit and by the 50th pitch you could see his velo coming down, and you could see that he hadn’t been out there in a while. So, I was very proud of what he did.”
Seattle starter Logan Gilbert, a former All-Star, seemed to relish the opportunity to match up with Misiorowski.
“It’s a fun challenge, especially going against their starter. He’s got great stuff,” Gilbert said. “It helps when you have somebody like Cal just hitting homers in the big moment.”
The Brewers will look to start a new streak Wednesday when they send Quinn Priester (8-2, 3.33 ERA) to the mound against Seattle’s Luis Castillo (7-5, 3.21) in a matchup of right-handers.
Priester has not lost since May 13 and defeated the host Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 last Friday as he allowed just three hits over six innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 10. He’ll be facing the Mariners for the first time.
Castillo has won his past three starts, pitching 6 2/3 scoreless innings of three-hit ball Friday in a 6-1 victory against the visiting Houston Astros. Castillo is 4-8 with a 3.34 ERA in 18 career starts against the Brewers.