The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to keep the good times rolling when they take on the Chicago White Sox again on Saturday afternoon. After Milwaukee took three out of four games in an emotional series against the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, they belted a season-high 23 hits and scored 12 runs against the White Sox on Friday night. They now are a season-best 11 games over .500 and remain in first place in the National League Central Division.
On Saturday, the Brewers are sending rookie left-handed starting pitcher Robert Gasser to the mound. As many fans may recall, Gasser first came to Milwaukee as part of the controversial Josh Hader trade at the 2022 MLB trade deadline. Of all the players the Brewers received in return for their former closer, Gasser is the only one who remains.
And it is a good thing, too. The Brewers have struggled to put together a healthy starting rotation this year, and Gasser has been a stabilizing force in an unstable situation.
Robert Gasser Has Been Everything the Milwaukee Brewers Need Him to Be and More
Gasser made his Major League debut for the Brewers on May 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was an instant success, pitching six strong innings while allowing no runs, two hits, no walks, and striking out four.
His next time out, Gasser pitched five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out two.
Gasser’s worst start was an outing against the Miami Marlins, but it was still the outing Milwaukee needed. With a beleaguered bullpen, Gasser powered through six innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits, no walks, and no strikeouts.
In his last start, he threw six innings of three-hit shutout ball against the Chicago Cubs and had a career-high seven strikeouts.
The common denominator in all of these games is that Milwaukee won them.
Milwaukee Brewers Pitcher Robert Gasser Has Done Something No One Has Done in 114 Years
Fans may notice something else about Gasser’s four starts so far: he has only walked one batter. With an ERA of 1.96 through his first four career starts, he has accomplished something that baseball has not seen for 114 years.
According to Baseball Reference’s social media account, the last time a pitcher had a sub-2.00 ERA and only walked one batter through his first four career starts was in 1910:
List of pitchers with a sub 2.00 ERA and 1 or fewer walks over their first 4 career starts (minimum 20 IP):
1. Robert Gasser (2024)
2. John Frill (1910) https://t.co/JNRh63f1VQ pic.twitter.com/qFo51KlwD4— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) May 28, 2024
While the Hader trade was unpopular at the time, it did net them Gasser, and Esteury Ruiz was traded to bring William Contreras to Milwaukee.
Sometimes it takes a while for these trades to balance out, but it looks like it is doing so for the Brewers.
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