Battle of MLB's best awaits Crew after 1st losing homestand in 2025

MILWAUKEE -- Freddy Peralta can’t be sure what awaits the Brewers in Toronto this weekend in a matchup between two teams with the best records in the Majors.

But he predicts everyone will be well-fed.

“Vlad [Guerrero Jr.], his grandmother is serving food to us all the time when we play against him,” said Peralta, referring to Altagracia Alvino, who has been serving traditional Dominican dishes to big leaguers since her son was slugging his way to the Hall of Fame. “Beans, rice, chicken, all of our best food. I would like to meet her at some point.”

Perhaps some of abuela’s home cooking is what the Brewers need to get back on track following Thursday afternoon’s 6-4 loss to the D-backs at American Family Field, a frustrating finish to Milwaukee’s first losing homestand all season.

It doesn’t get any easier. Now, the Brewers get to face the American League-leading Blue Jays for three games at Rogers Centre, then come home to host the National League East-leading Phillies on Labor Day to finally complete a grueling stretch of 19 games over 18 days without a scheduled off-day.

Already, that schedule has taken a bite out of the Brewers (83-52), who still hold MLB’s best record, and still lead the Cubs by 6 1/2 games in the NL Central after the Giants’ walk-off win on Thursday completed a sweep of Chicago out west. But over the past week-plus, Milwaukee hasn’t looked like the team that could do no wrong during a 29-4 run that began with an 11-game winning streak in early July and ended with a franchise-record 14-game winning streak to begin the month of August.

The Brewers are 5-8 since the end of the streak, letting leads slip away in seven of those eight losses, including in every defeat during a 3-4 homestand that concluded on Thursday with veteran starter Jose Quintana slogging through one of the wildest starts of his career.

Quintana threw Ball 1 to 14 of the 22 batters he faced, missed the strike zone on 47 of his 95 pitches overall and was charged with six runs on five hits, four walks and two hit batsmen -- one to force home a run -- while recording only 11 outs and adding further strain to a bullpen eagerly awaiting the next day off.

“It was terrible,” Quintana said. “Our team made a really good effort giving me four runs, but I need better execution to throw strikes. That’s it. It didn’t throw strikes.”

That’s uncharacteristic for Quintana, who had only one other start in his 14-year big league career in which he plunked multiple batters and walked at least four. That was back on Aug. 14, 2017.

“You can’t walk people. I think that’s the bottom line,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He pitches on the edges, and when he doesn’t get that edge call, it’s going to be a long night.”

The Blue Jays, too, have cooled from their summer sizzle. They had a 19-4 stretch from late June through the final week of July, but they are 15-14 since. But they’re formidable, particularly at the plate, where they lead the Majors with a .338 on-base percentage (Milwaukee is second at .332) and rank fifth with a .431 slugging percentage.

The Brewers head into the series poised to get star outfielder Jackson Chourio back from the injured list as soon as Friday night, but they will be without All-Star closer Trevor Megill, who landed on the injured list this week with a flexor strain in his right forearm. Milwaukee will have its top three starters lined up in Peralta on Friday, Quinn Priester on Saturday after getting extra rest for a sore right wrist and veteran Brandon Woodruff on Sunday.

“At the end of the day, we have depth,” Peralta said. “At this time of year, we need that. We have to make sure that we get well again.”

The Brewers’ bullpen is in reasonably good shape after Tobias Myers and Eason McGee combined to keep the D-backs at bay in relief of Quintana. Isaac Collins’ two-run single in the third cut the deficit to two runs, and the defense helped keep it there, providing four highlight-reel plays during a four-inning span from the third through the sixth. The best came in the fifth when center fielder Blake Perkins leapt to pull back a Tyler Locklear home run.

All of those moments combined to keep the Brewers in the ballgame until the bottom of the ninth, when pinch-hitter Christian Yelich, representing the potential winning run, bounced out to end the game.

“We’re still in good position," Quintana said. “We know this is not an easy game and we have to battle every game, every play. It was that kind of game for me today. You keep fighting, keep fighting, and you never know what’s going to happen.”