Meet outfielder Daz Cameron, 1/2 of the third father-son combo in Brewers history
Meet outfielder Dazmon Jaroid Cameron, 1/2 of the third father-son combo in Brewers history. Cameron was acquired through a trade with Baltimore and spent a short time with Nashville before being called up.
One game does not a series make.
That said, the Milwaukee Brewers’ first look at the Chicago Cubs this season had to have been rather eye-opening as the Central Division leaders came into American Family Field and ran roughshod.
Quinn Priester was rocked for seven runs in the second inning, and the Brewers put up zero fight from there in falling, 10-0, on Friday night, May 2.
BOX SCORE: Cubs 10, Brewers 0
It marks the first time since September of 2001 that the Brewers have been shut out by seven or more runs in consecutive games and just the second time in franchise history, and was the second-largest shutout ever by the Cubs against the Brewers (12-0 on Sept. 13, 2020, a no-hitter thrown by Alec Mills).
They managed just five singles against starter Ben Brown and Chris Flexen and have now failed to score a run in 19 consecutive innings dating to Wednesday’s 6-4 win over the White Sox.
“It’s not good,” manager Pat Murphy said when asked about the team’s morale. “Nobody’s given up hope on May 3. But we’ve had this happen to us before, right? We have that many starting pitchers down – what would other teams do?
“When you have (Aaron) Civale, (Nestor) Cortes, (Brandon) Woodruff, (Aaron) Ashby, DL Hall, all those guys down, you’re going to run into some games – that happened to be tonight – where you’ve got to kind of pitch guys that aren’t quite ready for that situation.”
“Opener” gambit was for Priester’s benefit
Priester was actually the second pitcher utilized by Murphy; Tyler Alexander got the start as the Brewers utilized an opener for the first time this season.
Murphy said before the game the move was more about keeping Priester from seeing the top of the Cubs’ lineup three times than it was about Alexander matching up better against Chicago’s left-handed hitters.
Alexander surrendered singles to three of the first four hitters, however, and departed with Chicago already leading, 1-0.
Priester was greeted by a run-scoring single from Nico Hoerner that made it 2-0 – not a great sign for Milwaukee, which entered 0-10 in games in which its opponent scored first.
The Brewers are the only team in the majors without a win this season in games where they don’t score first.
Things go from bad to worse in a hurry
Chicago then went single, walk, walk, single, single to open the second against Priester. The second two hits, by Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki, doubled the deficit to 4-0 for Milwaukee.
It was doubled again two batters later when Michael Busch took Priester to the opposite field and into the Brewers bullpen in an 0-2 count for a grand slam.
And two batters after that, Pete Crow-Armstrong crushed one out to right-center making it a 9-0 game.
Not helping matters was Brown keeping a lid on Milwaukee’s offense from the start. He wasn’t quite as dominating as the first time he faced the Brewers late last May, when he threw seven no-hit innings in a Cubs win in Milwaukee, but he was still plenty good enough.
Brown went six innings in all, becoming the first Cubs pitcher since Kyle Hendricks on July 24, 2020 to throw six or more shutout innings without issuing a walk.
Pitching takes an interesting turn
Priester did recover from his nightmarish second inning to retire 10 of the final 12 batters he faced, departing after the fifth with his pitch count at 101.
His replacement for the sixth was something of a surprise in right-hander Tobias Myers, although Murphy indicated after the game that the right-hander was simply getting some work in during a low-pressure situation.
Myers, of course, returned to the Brewers’ starting rotation on April 24 after being sidelined by an oblique strain. He made one more start, on Wednesday against the White Sox in Chicago, but was pulled by manager Pat Murphy after just two innings for being ineffective.
Myers retired all three Cubs batters he faced before making way for Joel Payamps, who surrendered Crow-Armstrong’s second homer of the game in the seventh that extended the deficit to 10-0.
In a sign of how badly things have gone of late, Jake Bauers pitched the final inning for the second straight game.
One positive? He has now tossed four scoreless on the year.
Chicago, on the other hand, is now the fifth team to reach 20 wins in the majors (20-13) and doing nothing to disprove the belief that they’re the team to be reckoned with in the Central this season.
“Bauers continues to be an effective reliever,” Murphy quipped. “These games are going to happen. Especially against a very good Cubs team. It gives them a lot of momentum; they’ve played great this month.”
Brice Turang is OK
Brice Turang singled to lead off the first for the Brewers, then needed to be visited on the field briefly in the second inning while running a long distance down the right-field line in an attempt to glove a bloop single by Seiya Suzuki.
He remained in the game at that point, but was eventually pulled after the fifth.
“He’s been really sick,” Murphy said. “He felt better and he played. After that blooper fell in, he couldn’t catch his breath. That’s when we went out to check on him, because he was coughing and couldn’t catch his breath.
“We were a little worried about him. We gave him a little time to calm down. He’s on some medication. He just feels like sometimes when he runs, he can’t catch his breath.
What time is the Brewers game tonight?
Time: 7:10 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on tonight?
TV channel: Apple TV+
Brewers lineup
- Brice Turang 2B
- Jackson Chourio CF
- Christian Yelich DH
- William Contreras C
- Sal Frelick RF
- Rhys Hoskins 1B
- Isaac Collins LF
- Joey Ortiz SS
- Caleb Durbin 3B
Cubs lineup
- Ian Happ LF
- Kyle Tucker RF
- Seiya Suzuki DH
- Carson Kelly C
- Michael Busch 1B
- Nico Hoerner 2B
- Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
- Dansby Swanson SS
- Nicky Lopez 3B
Brewers schedule
Brewers vs. Cubs, 6:10 p.m. May 3. Milwaukee LHP José Quintana (4-0, 1.14) vs. Chicago RHP Jameson Taillon (1-1, 4.01). TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Cubs, 1:10 p.m. May 4. Milwaukee RHP Freddy Peralta (3-2, 2.52) vs. Chicago LHP Shota Imanaga (3-1, 2.77). TV – FanDuel Sports Wisconsin. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
