MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers reached the All-Star break on Sunday after 96 regular-season games and five long months of baseball, if you go all the way back to the February day that pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training.
The way they’re playing, they might prefer to play through.
All-Star starter Freddy Peralta carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and rookie third baseman Anthony Seigler delivered his first career RBIs, while Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang popped back-to-back homers in an 8-1 win over the Nationals at American Family Field, capping a perfect homestand that gave Milwaukee a seven-game winning streak heading into the break.
The Crew earned their break by going 56-40 in the first half, one game behind the Cubs (57-39) in the NL Central and atop the NL Wild Card standings with a franchise record for victories at the All-Star break. The Brewers’ .583 winning percentage is the second highest in franchise history at the break, trailing only 1979’s Bambi’s Bombers (54-38, .587).
And it’s all after an 0-4 start to this season, during which the Brewers were outscored by the Yankees and Royals by a 47-15 margin -- with a depleted pitching staff that found itself on the business end of MLB’s torpedo bat sensation.
“The way that we started was a little shaky, a little weird,” Peralta said. “I was a little worried back then.”
Peralta's not worried any more, not after a memorable finish to the first half that began with Brandon Woodruff’s mound return in Miami on July 6 after nearly two years rehabbing a right shoulder injury. Back home, the good times continued with three-game sweeps of the first-place Dodgers and last-place Nationals in series that each featured walk-offs. Along the way, Peralta picked up some company for his private flight to Atlanta for the All-Star Game, with closer Trevor Megill and rookie starter Jacob Misiorowski added to the NL squad -- Misiorowski in historic fashion after only five big league starts.
It’s not one thing that turned the Brewers’ season in the right direction, but a collection of things. Young arms like Quinn Priester, Chad Patrick, Logan Henderson and, of course, the fireballing Misiorowski helped hold the starting rotation together while the team got healthy. The club’s star hitter, Christian Yelich, began to produce as he got healthy again following last year’s back surgery. Sparkplug Sal Frelick, who had to leave Sunday’s finale with a left hamstring injury, made the lineup better when he was moved up to leadoff in May.
And the Brewers started winning. They were 21-25 on May 17 after getting shut out for the fourth time in five games. Peralta started the next day and threw five innings of one-run ball to beat the Twins. Since then, the Brewers are 35-15.
“I think from the very beginning, I knew we had a good team. Now we’re starting to see some things go out way,” said Chourio, who reached the break with 16 home runs and a .758 OPS. “We’re doing a lot of the little things right. Everyone is doing their part hitting. We’re playing defense, running the bases. I always knew we had a good team together."
Peralta has led the way. He will be idle at the Midsummer Classic by virtue of starting Sunday’s first-half finale against a Nationals lineup missing All-Star outfielder James Wood (rest) and 2024 All-Star CJ Abrams (shoulder). Peralta was all but perfect through five innings -- Washington’s only baserunner reached via Turang’s error -- before yielding a one-out single to nine-hole hitter Jacob Young with one out in the sixth.
Peralta escaped that threat, then came within inches of a seventh scoreless inning only to be denied after a Luis Garcia Jr. fly ball down the left-field line ticked off the end of Yelich’s glove for a double that led to a run when Daylen Lile’s two-out single put the Nationals on the scoreboard and ended Peralta’s afternoon at 102 pitches with a 3-1 lead.
Peralta's first half was terrific. He heads into the break on a six-start winning streak with an 11-4 record and a 2.66 ERA.
“He’s been here so many years [that] you don’t want to say, ‘Hey, he’s coming into his own,’” Murphy said. “But he’s taken that other step and found the consistency that big-time pitchers do.”
Peralta will have to rest up quickly. After the hustle and bustle of attending All-Star festivities, he’ll start the Brewers’ second game coming out of the All-Star break against the Dodgers in L.A. on Saturday night.
“As a team, we are doing great because we are not thinking about how far we are from first place or where we’re at in the Wild Card,” Peralta said. “We’re just trying to play game by game. Win one at a time. That’s been key for us; not thinking too far ahead.”