Peralta, Yelich's 'special moments' show what's needed for Crew's playoff success

MILWAUKEE -- If the Brewers had their way, they would bottle up this version of Freddy Peralta and keep him stashed away for Game 1 of a postseason series. Christian Yelich, too.

The Brewers’ stars led the way to a 9-2 win over the Angels at American Family Field on Tuesday, with Peralta’s first double-digit strikeout performance of 2025 pushing the right-hander within five of a third consecutive 200-strikeout season, and Yelich powering his way to within one home run and one RBI of a 30-homer, 100-RBI campaign.

Of course, the Brewers have more than regular-season milestones in their sights at this point. They’ve already locked up a postseason berth and are inching closer to clinching the NL Central, needing any combination of seven more victories or Cubs losses over the remaining 11 games to cement a third consecutive division title.

• Postseason FAQ: What's next for Brewers?

“We just need to focus on winning that night and not even think about the magic number,” said Yelich, who finished 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. “If you start looking ahead, then things can get away from you a little bit.”

What about individual numbers? Players can’t avoid them in an age of supersized scoreboards, after all, so Yelich is well aware that he sits at 29 home runs and 99 RBIs, his most homers since hitting 44 in 2019, and his most RBIs since he had 110 in 2018, the year he won the NL MVP Award. And Peralta knows that his 17 wins are tied with the Yankees’ Max Fried for most in the Majors, and that he needs five more strikeouts to join Yovani Gallardo and Corbin Burnes as the only pitchers in Brewers history with at least three seasons of 200-plus strikeouts.

“I don’t like to check numbers, but unfortunately, I saw,” said Peralta, who has two regular season starts remaining. “Sometimes, I try to avoid that, but there’s people around always talking about it. It’s nice.”

“You’re aware of a couple of [the numbers] just from being in the stadium,” said Yelich. “You just keep your head down and do what you’re supposed to do during the game, and everything else kind of takes care of itself. You don’t really chase that stuff.”

Coming off a start on the road in which he surrendered five Rangers runs and saw a 30-inning scoreless streak snapped, Peralta got back on track with six innings of one-run ball while improving to 17-6 with a 2.65 ERA through 31 starts. His first six outs on Tuesday came via the strikeout on the way to 10 strikeouts in all, Peralta’s 15th career start with double-digit whiffs and the first since an 11-strikeout game against the Cubs last May 28.

“I think he’s just gotten better every year,” said Yelich, who was in his first season with the Brewers when Peralta debuted with a 13-strikeout gem on Mother’s Day in 2018. “He posts every five days, and that’s huge. We count on him when he goes out there that we’re going to be in the game and we like our chances to win.”

The pitch counts are still higher than the Brewers would like -- Peralta threw 94 pitches for six innings on Tuesday -- but that concern wanes in the postseason, when every inning is high leverage and travel days allow for a more liberal deployment of relievers.

“It’s not ho-hum. I mean, he attacks hitters,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Hitters respect the heater and they speed up, and then the changeup is a sneaky-great pitch. The slider was there at times today, the curveball was decent today. It’s all about Freddy not giving up free bases and just going after them.”

The Brewers backed him by scoring runs in each of the first four innings, the first on Yelich’s RBI double and two more in the fourth when Yelich chased Angels starter Caden Dana with a two-out, two-run home run for a 5-0 lead.

“He’s really hard on himself,” Murphy said. “He’s not thinking, ‘three hits, home run and a double, this is awesome.’ He stays right here, he stays level, and the guys see that. I think this is a kid you’ll see play past his contract.”

For the record, Yelich’s contract runs through 2028 with a mutual option for ‘29. Peralta’s deal with the Brewers has an $8 million club option for 2026 before he hits free agency.

“I’m happy for [Yelich] because I know in the past he’s been battling with some injuries and all of that,” Peralta said. “Sometimes when you are in those moments, you lose a little confidence in yourself. It’s impressive that he’s been able to keep himself doing what he does. It’s been special moments, too. Whenever we need him, he does special stuff.”