It’s a good thing these games don’t count yet. The Milwaukee Brewers struggled through a 13-4 loss to the Athletics in Cactus League play, with some poor defense causing a lot of the problems.
Kyle Harrison got the start and pitched in five innings. He’s the first Brewers starter to get five “ups” this spring, but was charged with six earned runs. There was a fly ball lost in the sun, and his defense let him down on a couple of occasions, leaving the Brewers in a big hole early. The Athletics were able to score three runs in the second and three runs in the third.
After Harrison, Trevor Megill came in and allowed a solo homer to Colby Thomas. Then Carlos Rodriguez pitched two innings of one-run ball in his first Cactus League action in a couple of weeks. Rodriguez was with Team Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic, who were eliminated after the pool play round. Sammy Peralta then allowed a run in his inning of work, and the wheels totally fell off when Mark Manfredi entered and allowed a grand slam to Tommy “Tanks” White without recording an out.
On the offensive end, the Brewers scored a pair of runs in the sixth on a Jake Bauers RBI single and an Andrew Vaughn RBI double. Milwaukee scraped together two more runs in the ninth on a two-run single by Josh Adamczewski.
Cooper Pratt had a pair of singles and went 2-for-3 on the day while getting the start at second base. He’s now hitting .280 on the spring. Braylon Payne had a double, which was one of just two extra-base hits the Brewers had, along with Vaughn’s RBI double.
The Brewers fall to 8-11 in Cactus League play. They will be back at it tomorrow against the Colorado Rockies and will have Jacob Misiorowski on the bump.
