Red-hot rookie Myers a boon for Brewers' banged-up rotation

SAN DIEGO -- The first-place Brewers’ best starting pitcher in June is not the team’s ace, Freddy Peralta. It’s not the quiet, steady Colin Rea. It’s not the former Top 100 prospect Bryse Wilson.

The Brewers’ best starter in June has been rookie Tobias Myers, a 25-year-old right-hander with a unique, riding fastball who had a 5.03 ERA at Double-A Biloxi last season and wasn’t on anyone’s radar as the Brewers entered the post-Corbin Burnes era.

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Now, with the club creeping up on the midpoint of the regular season, he is indispensable.

With five more quality innings in Sunday’s 6-2 Brewers win over the Padres at Petco Park, Myers is 4-0 in June with a 0.71 ERA. He’s yielded two earned runs in 25 1/3 innings this month, including one run on five hits on Sunday. He’s struck out 18 versus six walks, including a walk-free afternoon on 78 pitches against San Diego.

“We’ve done this for years,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It’s like, ‘Where did these guys come from?’”

Myers came from Minor League free agency in November 2022, after he’d been released by the White Sox. Before that, he pitched in the Minors for the Giants, Guardians, Rays and Orioles, who made Myers a sixth-round Draft pick in 2016.

Has he ever had a run like this?

“Probably in the Minor Leagues, but not recently,” Myers said. “I think when I take the mound, every time it feels the same. Once I start throwing the ball and start seeing good results, the confidence starts going up.”

The Brewers’ confidence in Myers is up, too.

“He continues to work and continues to be serious about his unexpected arrival in the big leagues,” Murphy said. “He himself will tell you he didn’t know he was going to be here. He was hoping and whatever. But since he’s been here, he’s decided that, ‘I’m going to listen to these guys.’”

Said Myers: “I do think I’m doing a little better than I thought I would early on. I thought I was going to be here, for sure. The hard work I put in built my confidence up last year.”

Brewers hitters backed Myers by batting around for five runs in the second inning against Padres starter Michael King, who’d pitched into the eighth and allowed only one run on two hits against the Brewers in Milwaukee back in April. Rookie Tyler Black logged his first career RBI with a single amid that rally, and nine Brewers batters collected at least one hit in the game to avoid not only a four-game sweep, but what would have been their first four-game losing streak this season.

Five teams have yet to lose more than three consecutive games this year, and they are all in postseason position at the moment: The Brewers, Phillies, Guardians, Yankees and Orioles.

“While on paper we don’t look like the best team in the world, we do pull things off like today,” Murphy said. “We come back [after three straight losses] against an extremely hot team that’s swinging the bat well. Sure, [the Padres] have some injuries, but they have some people.”

It’s taken a lot of people to keep the Brewers atop the National League Central -- five games ahead of the second-place Cardinals, who have won 24 of their last 37 games -- despite being without the injured Brandon Woodruff from the start of this season, and despite losing four-fifths of their Opening Day rotation to injuries. Wade Miley is out for the year following elbow surgery. Jakob Junis returned from a shoulder injury this weekend, but he’s pitching out of the bullpen for now. DL Hall (knee) and Joe Ross (back) remain on the IL. A promising midseason addition, left-handed prospect Robert Gasser, has already gone down with an elbow injury and is lost for the year.

• Brewers' injuries & roster moves

So, the Brewers have had to dig deep into their organization for starting pitching. Already, they have used 12 starting pitchers through 78 games.

Myers represents one of the callups. He made his Major League debut on April 23 and has made 10 starts and 11 appearances for the Brewers.

"He controlled us pretty well, kept us off-balance,” Padres third baseman Manny Machado said. “We couldn’t get that big hit. He was missing the barrel today. There were a lot of fly balls. We couldn’t barrel them up."

Myers credited the command of his signature fastball.

The Brewers hope he keeps it going.

“The kid, he’s competitive every time out,” Murphy said. “He just goes at them. Now he expects it.”