Freddy Peralta wants to stay in the majors; Jesus Aguilar wants to stay in the lineup

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PITTSBURGH – Freddy Peralta’s goal is to make the Milwaukee Brewers keep him in the major leagues.

Jesús Aguilar’s goal is to make manager Craig Counsell keep him in the lineup.

Both players presented good cases for those commitments Tuesday night as the Brewers hung on for dear life for a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

In his second go-round in the majors this season – he turned a grizzled 22 years old since his debut – Peralta again was outstanding in blanking the Pirates for six innings. Even more impressive, Peralta issued no walks, refusing to get himself in trouble as he has on occasion in the minors, not to mention his second big-league start in Minnesota.

“The zero walks was really impressive,” said manager Craig Counsell, whose squad stopped a three-game slide that had their faithful a bit nervous.

“He threw a bunch of strikes. That was the big thing tonight – he just threw a bunch of strikes. He made them put it in play. They hit a bunch of balls in the air. He pitched very well.”

As he did first time around, Peralta threw mostly fastballs. Seventy-eight of his 99 pitches, in fact. And the slightly built righty continued to confound hitters by pitching up in the strike zone at 92-93 mph and getting away with it.

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There’s something about the way Peralta delivers the ball up in the zone that makes it look juicy to the hitters. But, by the time they start their swing, the fastballs are too high to hit and you become one of Peralta’s 25 strikeout victims already in only 15 2/3 innings in the majors.

Asked about his success high in the strike zone, Peralta said, “I don’t know. I know I am really good throwing the ball up there. I think the hitters can’t see it really good up there. They see it like a strike, then it’s too late.”

With Zach Davies still on rehab assignment as he comes back from an ailing shoulder, Counsell confirmed that Peralta will get the ball again Sunday for his first home start against St. Louis.

“From my perspective, a 21-year-old who reaches the big leagues has already crossed a whole bunch of hurdles, where he’s been the youngest player on the team, and young for his age in a league,” Counsell said.

“To me, he’s already established poise. This wasn’t his first start. He’s been through it; he’s had success. But he’s a poised young man. The situation is not too big for him.”

The only difference offensively from the previous night’s 1-0 loss was that Aguilar was in the starting lineup. He did all of the heavy lifting with a two-run homer in the first off Jameson Taillon and RBI double in the third. After that, it was crickets for the offense, much like the night before.

To get Aguilar and Eric Thames in the same lineup – Ryan Braun did not start – Counsell gave Thames his first start of the season in right field. The ball always finds you, as they say, and Thames muffed a deep fly ball for an error in the first but made some nice plays afterward.

“We need him out there; we do,” Counsell said of playing Thames in right. “Trying to get ‘Aggie’ and Eric in the lineup at times, it’s important that Eric does a nice job out there. He doesn’t have a lot of recent experience out there. We have to understand that. That’s part of it.”

Without Aguilar’s production when Thames missed six weeks-plus with a thumb injury, the Brewers certainly wouldn’t be 43-30 and in first place in the NL Central. Asked about forcing his way into the lineup, Aguilar pointed toward the manager’s office and said, “That’s on him.”

“I come here positive,” Aguilar said. “When I come here and I’m playing, I try to do my job. I control what I can control. That’s it. I can’t do anything about (the lineup).”

The offense has kept the pressure on the pitching staff for much of the season. For the longest time, the bullpen carried more than its share of the burden. As might be expected, they’ve been more vulnerable of late but Dan Jennings, Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel (save No. 7) held the spunky Pirates to two runs over the final three innings, which was good enough.

“They had some really good at-bats in the seventh,” said Counsell of a rally Jeffress finally shut down by striking out pinch-hitter Austin Meadows with runners on second and third. “I give them credit. They kept fouling off and spoiling some pitches, I thought, to really make our guys work.”

As for his bullpen leaking a bit of oil recently, Counsell said, “A bunch of them set the bar pretty high. They came in tonight and closed down the game.

“They’re going to give up some runs. We’ve stated that since Day 1. But it’s a good group out there. I’m glad we’ve got them.”