Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta pocketed win No. 17 Tuesday night against the Angels with six iridescent innings of one-run ball. Somehow, it was his first double-digit strikeout game of the season, as he set the tone early with six Ks in the first two frames. On a Cy Young-worthy resume, consistency has been Peralta’s calling card all year. It has him on the cusp of breaking the 200-strikeout threshold for a third straight season. Peralta does his best to stay away from stats, but he couldn’t help being excited about this one.
After locking up Brewers W, Peralta approaches rare feat in today’s game
“I don’t like to check numbers, but unfortunately I saw,” Peralta told reporters with a grin. Asked to choose which he likes most, he sounded like a kid forced to pick his favorite Christmas present. “Oh my gosh. I think … I love the strikeouts, I’m gonna go with the strikeouts,” he said, agreeing with the suggestion.
“Oh yeah, yeah,” Peralta responded when asked if he had his eye on the round-number total of 200. “Always, that’s my goal. How do you all know that?” All smiles.
In the post-Covid era of baseball, pitchers – especially hard-throwers, which is most of them – just don’t stay healthy on a year-to-year basis, let alone dominate the way Peralta has. Including 2025 projections, if Peralta gets there, San Diego’s Dylan Cease will be the only other pitcher who can claim 200 Ks in each one (incredibly, he’s done it five years running).
Peralta was in good spirits after taking home the victory, and, number-watching or not, it’s hard to blame him. In terms of clinching the division, the 9-2 win shrunk Milwaukee’s magic number to seven. The outing also boosted Peralta’s season strikeout total to 195. With two more scheduled starts to go, he is all but guaranteed to get there. In 31 starts, Peralta has six all season with under five Ks.
Last season, he landed at 200 on the dot. In 2023, he whiffed 210 batters. Having struck out six-plus in his last eight outings (and an average of 7.6 per start), Peralta is definitely in range to match his career high.
Overall, 2025 is shaping up to be the best season of his career. One could argue that 2021 comes close: 195 Ks in 144.1 innings, 2.81 ERA and a .561 OPS against. Disrupted by injury, however, that season doesn’t measure up in volume to what he has done this year. After Tuesday, he is 17-6 with a 2.65 ERA in 169.2 IP, allowing a .190 opponent batting average and .596 OPS.
Here’s how Peralta stacked up against the rest of the league before his gem versus the Angels:
Freddy Peralta enters the day ranked among the National League leaders in the following categories:#ThisIsMyCrew I @FreddyPeraltaRD pic.twitter.com/sQ6OSgyMiZ
— Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) September 16, 2025
As the Brewers enter the stretch run, he is as clear a candidate as can be for a top three place in NL Cy Young voting. With a pristine bounceback from a rare rough start in Texas, his case has only grown stronger.
