Peralta, Brewers flirt with no-no, settle for 3rd straight shutout

CINCINNATI -- Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta has faith that some day, he’ll get to pitch in a no-hitter.

“I probably deserve one,” Peralta said with a big smile on Saturday night, “because I’ve been [in a lot of] one-hit games. I’ve been in the sixth, in the seventh, and then I [allow] one hit. I may deserve one.

“Combined, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get one, hopefully.”

He came excruciatingly close to getting one in the Brewers’ rain-delayed, 3-0 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park, on a night that pushed Milwaukee back into sole possession of first place in the National League Central and offered shades of CC Sabathia pitching in Pittsburgh in August 2008.

Back then, the Pittsburgh official scorer ruled an infield hit on what the Brewers remain convinced to this day was actually an error. It was the game’s only hit. On Saturday, it wasn’t the official scorer but a close call from home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora. He called ball three on a two-strike pitch to Reds right fielder Jake Fraley in the fourth inning that Peralta and Brewers catcher William Contreras are certain was well within the bounds of the strike zone.

On the next pitch, Fraley broke his bat swinging at a fastball inside and dumped an infield hit short of third base.

It was the game’s only hit.

Peralta worked six innings before Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams continued their sensational seasons with hitless relief to finish the Brewers’ third consecutive shutout victory over the Reds. While winning games by margins of 1-0, 1-0 and 3-0, Brewers pitchers have allowed seven hits over the last 27 innings against Cincinnati. According to OptaStats, the Brewers became the first team ever to win three straight shutouts while striking out at least a dozen batters in each game.

"I don't care who you're playing. You shut a team out three times in a row, that's great work,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It's been the same story: Six innings from a starter and three great innings from Elvis, Joel and Devin. They've done great work, and it's put us in a good position."

In the dugout and on the field, Counsell and many players were so locked into the task at hand that it didn’t strike them until the very end just how close they’d come to witnessing a no-hitter. It dawned on some of them as Williams breezed through an eight-pitch save -- with an assist from third baseman Andruw Monasterio’s terrific, game-ending play on a grounder from Elly De La Cruz.

“I think everyone at that point noticed that was the only hit today,” Contreras said. “It was just a tremendous job from the whole staff today.”

Peralta’s knack for avoiding hits -- he held opponents to a .165 average in 2021 and a .190 average in ‘22 -- means that he’s occasionally flirted with no-hitters, only to fall short. This year, he has an opponent OPS north of .700 for the first time since 2019, when he primarily pitched in relief. But Saturday represented a vintage performance.

“The big key was making sure he stayed aggressive,” Contreras said. “Today we used the changeup a little more than we have in the past. I don’t think they were looking for that, and it worked.”

“The changeup helped me a lot today,” Peralta said. “I always like to give credit to the people who deserve it, like [Contreras] tonight. He did a great job and I was executing.”

Peralta waited through a one-hour and 16-minute rain delay at the start of the night and then immediately pitched with a lead thanks to Christian Yelich’s first career first-pitch leadoff home run. Contreras stayed hot with a solo homer in the fourth inning, and Owen Miller homered for the first time since May 24 in the seventh.

The win was important for the Brewers on two fronts.

One, it moved them back to the top of the division alone for the first time in three weeks. Two, it clinched the season series against the Reds, since the Brewers have won seven of the first nine matchups with four to go.

Thus, if the Brewers and Reds finish with identical records, the Brewers own the tiebreaker.

“Look, we’ve got enough games left against them that we want more wins against them,” Counsell said. “But I think going through this last year and understanding that with the two teams at the end that we were chasing, [the Cardinals in the division and Phillies in the Wild Card], we had lost the season series, when you’re in the last week of September, that’s not a good feeling.

“So, to know that if this is one of the teams that we’re going to be battling against, that we’ve got that accomplished already, it makes your lead an extra game, really. We saw that last year.”