Freddy Peralta’s incredible scoreless inning streak ended at 30 when Jake Burger hit a leadoff home run against him in the second frame of Wednesday's series finale. It was the first of two homers Burger hit off Peralta as the Texas Rangers completed the sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It’s the first time Milwaukee has been swept since opening weekend against the New York Yankees, per Brewers reporter Sophia Minnaert. It was also Peralta’s first loss since July. And manager Pat Murphy acknowledged his team was outplayed in the series.
“Credit the Texas Rangers and how they’re playing. They’re on it. You can see their young players, their fill-in guys, it reminds me of us in a lot of ways. They got every big hit… We get 11 hits and we don’t get the timely two-out hit. You could see it happening, you know?” Murphy said, via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy.
Pat Murphy looks for positives in Brewers' rough stretch
“We haven’t had too many of these. In the last two years, this is the third time we’ve been swept, right? It stinks, but I don’t think there’s any team in baseball that has played 300 games and been swept three times. I still love our guys and am proud of our guys. It’s not a lack of effort… It’s maybe the opposite, they’re exhausted and they’re beat up and things did not go our way this week,” Murphy added.
The Brewers were the hottest team in baseball as they rocketed past the Chicago Cubs in July. But Milwaukee is just 11-14 over its last 25 contests and the division lead is now down to six games.
Christian Yelich returned to the lineup for the Rangers series after suffering a back injury on August 1. But the former MVP couldn’t lift the Brewers past Texas.
Despite the rough stretch, Murphy still believes in his team’s magical season.
“We were in every game, just like last year we got swept by the Phillies and we were in every game. Somehow, this is going to help us. I don’t know how. It doesn’t feel good right now. But it just feels a little bit snake bit and a little bit, ‘Wait a minute, where’s our break?’ But you make your own breaks. This team has done some incredible things.”
