Jhoulys Chacin is pitching decently to start the year for the Brewers. He is not off to the sparkling start he had last season, but there are signs of a solid pitcher all over the place. Chacin struggled in the regular season last year at Dodger Stadium. He did pitch well there in the playoffs, but the regular season did not go well for him. Same could be said for Sunday. Brewers did not get a sweep of the Dodgers, rather, Los Angeles broke out with six runs in the first three innings leading to a 7-1 rout of the Brewers. A 2-4 West Coast trip isn’t exactly pretty, but it could have been worse, so, the Brewers did what they could before heading home for this week’s set of games.

Player of the Game: Ross Stripling – He is one of the keys to the Dodgers’ success this year. If Stripling ends up being a front line pitcher along with Walker Buehler, Los Angeles can make up for Clayton Kershaw being average this season. Now, the Dodgers ace gets his year started Monday and will face the Brewers next week at Miller Park. But Stripling looked like he was in All-Star form dominating Milwaukee’s bats with a dazzling performance. He went eight innings, gave up four hits and struck out three batters. He had some solid defense behind him in this one.

Honorable Mention: Alex Verdugo – The annoying thing about the Dodgers is they’re not full of free agents or players they acquired in a trade. They actually have a very good farm system that produces some dynamite talent. Case in point, Alex Verdugo. He had a monster game for the Dodgers with a two-run single to open up the scoring for Los Angeles, and he later added a solo home run off Chase Anderson. He is a stud, and one of the best young players in the game.

Thing I Liked: Jacob Barnes had a nice outing – There is not much to do get excited about from the Brewers side of things, but Barnes did have a good game. He pitched two innings with no hits allowed, struck out two batters and got through six Dodgers batters with only 21 pitches. He did a good job. And maybe, this springboards his season. I’m very much in on him having a good year which has been a thing for me for the last couple of years.

Thing I din’t like: Annoying hard contact to a Dodger player – If you want a sliver lining in this game, Brewers hit the ball hard early on Stripling, it was just right at people. That’s an encouraging sign as the team will see him again next Friday. If they can start hitting the ball where defenders are not located, they can get to this guy.

What happened last night? – On Mondays if I do not give out a Saturday recap, I’ll include a quick note about Saturday’s game. Great win for the Brewers. Zach Davies continues his hot start to the season with another solid outing. It is early, but he is the Brewers best pitcher to start the year. Good to see Travis Shaw get a clutch hit in this one as well given his early season struggles.

Next up: Brewers will take on the St. Louis Cardinals for the second time this season at Miller Park. Freddy Peralta will go for the Crew facing off against Dakota Hudson. Peralta will have to try to reign in those first inning demons. Hudson gave up three homers in his debut, but he has been really solid since that outing. Fatigue could an issue as both teams coming from the West Coast to play this one.

Charlie.