Crew sweeps Bucs as Trade Deadline looms

PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers moved a season-best 19 games over .500 with an emphatic three-game sweep of the Pirates.

Then the clock started ticking to see if president of baseball operations David Stearns makes them even better.

Stearns was back in Milwaukee working the phones ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. CT Trade Deadline while the Brewers were sinking the Pirates for the third straight night on Thursday, this time a 12-0 rout at PNC Park that followed a 7-3 win on Wednesday and a 9-0 shutout the night before that.

“We are in a really good spot,” Freddy Peralta said after his latest dominant start. “The last couple of years we played really good in the second half. It’s what’s happening right now. I hope we keep doing the same thing until the last game we play this year.”

Peralta lowered his ERA to 2.17 with six scoreless innings on only 68 pitches, Manny Piña set a career high with five RBIs on a two-homer night, including a three-run shot in Milwaukee’s five-run sixth inning, and Rowdy Tellez stayed hot with a homer and two RBIs in the Brewers’ eighth win in 11 games since the All-Star break. They scored at least six runs in each of those victories.

With a seven-game lead over the second-place Reds in the National League Central standings, Milwaukee’s offense will get a further boost on Friday when newly-acquired infielder Eduardo Escobar joins the team. And if history holds from the most recent full MLB seasons, Friday’s Deadline won’t pass without Stearns adding some additional pitching; he traded for Anthony Swarzak and Jeremy Jeffress at the July Deadline in 2017, Joakim Soria in ‘18 and Drew Pomeranz in ‘19 to help the Brewers make second-half surges.

“I think our front office is backing us up and sending us a message like, ‘Keep playing hard and you’re going to see the results,” catcher Omar Narváez said.

So far, most of Stearns’ in-season trades have been hits.

The jury is out on the April 6 trade that sent Orlando Arcia to the Braves for relievers Chad Sobotka and Patrick Weigel, a deal designed to open shortstop for Luis Urías. When Urías faltered in the field, Stearns made a significant trade on May 21 to acquire Willy Adames and reliever Trevor Richards from the Rays, then flipped Richards to the Blue Jays on July 7 for Tellez.

Along the way, Stearns made minor trades for Hunter Strickland from the Angels on June 12 and Jandel Gustave from the Pirates on June 25. Both have delivered quality relief so far.

Stearns and the Brewers can only hope the acquisition of Escobar proves as fruitful as the deals that landed Adames and Tellez. With three hits on Thursday after a cold spell, Adames is hitting .298/.386/.530 in a Brewers uniform. And with a long double off the right-field wall that would have been a home run in 28 MLB ballparks, according to Statcast, then a home run that did clear the fence in left, Tellez has a 1.223 OPS in 15 games for the Brewers, including 13-for-25 with two doubles, four home runs and 11 RBIs in his last eight games.

"There's no doubt they have [made the Brewers better],” manager Craig Counsell said of Stearns’ additions to date. “Rowdy is taking advantage of a great opportunity. It's what David's great at doing and David's staff is great at doing. We just try to keep it continuing. Not just those two, but the minor stuff; Gustave coming in and pitching really well. Hunter Strickland coming in and really pitching well. Some big adds to our team."

One of Stearns’ first adds was Peralta, who was 19 years old when the Brewers got him as one of three teenage pitchers from the Mariners for Adam Lind at the 2015 Winter Meetings. Peralta threw all fastballs then, but he has developed into a complete pitcher over the past two years.

“I think it’s the confidence he has,” Piña said. “Before, when he was behind in the count he liked to use the fastball. Now, you don’t know what’s coming.”

Peralta was poised to go back out for a seventh inning, but with the Brewers leading comfortably, the team opted to not push him. He was coming off only 51 pitches in his previous start as part of planned rest.

Milwaukee’s big three starters are in a good spot. Peralta has a 2.17 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 108 innings. Brandon Woodruff has a 2.14 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 126 innings. And Corbin Burnes, slated to start on Friday night in Atlanta, has a 2.12 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 102 innings.

“We’re just pitching,” Counsell said. “Our starters are pitching exceptionally well.”