Anyone with a little bit of a brain knew that the two-game series that Milwaukee had with Houston was not going to be easy. Rather, they were going to have to battle to get one game out of this series especially with Justin Verlander on the hill Wednesday night. Freddy Peralta had to make a tough start versus a Houston team that hits for contact and doesn’t strike out much. With Peralta’s issues against St. Louis this year, it would be difficult to expect things to go well. They did not as Peralta gave up six runs over four innings, and he could not get an out in the fifth. Houston pulled away and despite an admirable comeback by Milwaukee, the Crew fell 10-8.

Player of the Game: Yuli Gurriel – Strong night for the Astros first baseman who had a two-run homer off Peralta in the third then followed it up with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Gurriel was in Milwaukee’s kitchen all night long. Gurriel finished the game with three hits, two runs scored, a home run and three runs driven in. THat’s a productive night at the plate, and part of the reason why Houston is not missing their core players, they have guys like this to step up.

Honorable Mention: Yasmani Grandal – He padded his stats a little bit, but Grandal gave Milwaukee a very small chance in the ninth inning. He punished a ball deep to make the score 10-8 in the ninth inning. Grandal finished the game with three hits and four RBIs. How this guy is not at the top of the All-Star voting is beyond me. He is easily the best catcher this season in the National League from an offensive perspective.

The Thing I Liked: Offense was mostly able to keep up with Houston – Sure, the pitching did not have a great game. But the offense did have some moments where they showed Houston that they could compete if the two met in the World Series. That was a solid effort by the team to keep coming back in this one. It’s too bad the pitching couldn’t have held the game at eight runs.

The highlight of the Night: Yelich hit number 25 tonight.

Not even at the All-Star break yet and @ChristianYelich is halfway to those 50 HRs he predicted he'd hit. #LetTheKidsPlay#ThisIsMyCrew #VoteBrewers: https://t.co/ZGJNZUiN2V pic.twitter.com/oIacIdxBmJ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 12, 2019

Next up
Brewers and Astros finish up their two-game set tonight with Justin Verlander taking the ball for Houston. Verlander has been very good this season, and he will look to do it again on Wednesday. Brewers will send Jimmy Nelson to the mound. My hope for Jimmy is that he can work three to four innings tonight of a shutout or one-run baseball. If he does that, Brewers should be encouraged.