After a long, eventful winter, the Milwaukee Brewers returned to action Saturday afternoon in Phoenix as they hosted the Cleveland Guardians. While the results don’t matter much (aside from the coveted Cactus League Cup), the Brewers went down 9-6 in this game.
Garrett Stallings worked around a pair of singles early in the afternoon, as Reese McGuire threw out a runner on the basepaths before Stallings induced two flyouts.
Brewer’s offense went strong in the bottom half of the inning, as Brice Turang singled, stole second base and advanced to third on a single by Jackson Chourio. With runners on the corners, Akil Baddoo Turang cashed in with a sacrifice fly to make the score 1-0 early. Joey Ortiz followed with a strikeout, and Tyler Black grounded out to end the inning.
Blake Holub followed Stallings on the mound and worked around a leadoff single for a scoreless second.
Brandon Lockridge provided another run to allow Milwaukee to open the second, hitting the first home run of the spring on a no-doubt 450-foot bomb to left. One batter later, David Hamilton struck out on the first Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge of the spring, when catcher Austin Hedges knocked over what was called the three ball and hit a three.
In the third, Will Childers worked around another single for the Guardians, keeping the lead at 2-0. The top of Milwaukee’s lineup went down in order in the bottom half of the inning, as Turang and Baddoo both struck out.
Cleveland finally put together a strong offensive inning against Jaron DeBerry in the fourth, drawing three walks combined with a throwing error (by DeBerry), a passed ball and a double to make it 3-2 before all was said and done.
Milwaukee’s offense got a response at the bottom of the frame, as Black and Lockridge hit back-to-back one-out singles before executing a double steal to put runners on second and third. Hamilton followed with a two-run double, putting the Brewers ahead again at 4-3. Also of note: Jackson Chourio’s brother Jaison came in at the top of the inning, replacing Chase DeLauter in center.
In the fifth, we saw Jett Williams for the first time this spring, when he replaced Turang in second. Tyson Hardin also took the mound and, after a walk to start the inning, got a pair of outs on a strikeout and a flyout. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get that third out quickly, as he allowed a single to George Valera before Nolan Jones hit a 450-foot three-run homer to right-center field to give the Guardians a 6-4 lead.
The Guardians traded most of the rest of their lineup in the bottom of the fifth, and despite loading the bases after a pair of singles and a walk, Milwaukee was unable to produce any runs.
Milwaukee then put in a pair more prospects defensively in the sixth, as Josh Adamczewski replaced Baddoo in left, top prospect Jesús Made replaced Ortiz at point-blank range and Luke Adams replaced Black first.
Brett Wichrowski also took the mound, recording a strikeout and a flyout before walking a batter and giving up a three-run homer to catcher Cooper Ingle, extending Cleveland’s lead to 9-4. The inning wouldn’t end there, however, as Wichrowski gave up two more singles before finally catching a flyout to end the frame.
The Brewers fell in order in the bottom of the sixth, and after a few more changes (Luis Peña replaced Hamilton, Matthew Wood replaced McGuire and Greg Jones replaced Lara), Edwin Jimenez worked a perfect seventh for Milwaukee.
In the bottom half of the inning, Williams gave one drive out to center, but Jaison Chourio was able to bring the ball down. Brock Wilken, coming on for Jackson Chourio, walked and advanced on a passed ball, but was stranded there.
Jordyn Adams replaced Lockridge in center in the eighth, and Manuel Rodriguez worked a perfect inning. Against Zane Morehouse in the bottom of the inning, Luke Adams walked and Peña singled to put two runners in order with one out. Wood flew out and moved Adams to third base, and Peña then stole second before Jones hit a two-run single to cut the deficit to 9-6 through eight frames.
Mark Manfredi worked around a walk in the ninth for a scoreless inning, and it came down to Xavier Martinez on the mound for Cleveland. The Brewers were able to get a pair of walks to plate the tying run, but they couldn’t cash in as Martinez closed out the game.
In a 15-point, 20-hit game, there were 19 pitchers (10 for Milwaukee, nine for Cleveland) and 36 position players (18 for each team).
Jackson Chourio, who had a great spring in 2025 (.469/.509/.714 with a homer, nine doubles, eight RBIs and 13 runs over 17 games), got off to another good start, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles this afternoon. Lockridge scored two runs on a pair of hits, including a homer.
On the mound, Stallings, Holub, Childers, Broca, Jimenez, Rodriguez and Manfredi all worked scoreless innings, although as a staff Milwaukee allowed nine runs (eight hits) on 10 hits and eight walks.
The Crew will be back in action tomorrow afternoon with a split squad day. The road team will take on the White Sox at 2:05 PM CT on Brewers TV, while the Brewers will host the Royals at 2:10 PM on 94.5 ESPN Radio and via the Brewers Radio Network.
#Brewers #kick #spring #training #loss #Guardians