The Milwaukee Brewers began the 2025 season losers of their first four games. That was a feat that never happened a season ago, but it quickly occurred after being swept by the Yankees and losing the Home Opener against the Royals.
Since that four game losing streak, the Brew Crew have turned things around. They are currently riding a three game winning streak that includes two shutouts over that span.
Related: 2025 Brewers finally on the right side of history with a 1-0 shutout victory over the Reds
Their next contest will be Friday night against the Reds. Prior to the first pitch, the team made a bold decision towards their starting pitching plans.
Milwaukee Brewers make a bold starting rotation decision prior to Friday nights game against the Cincinnati Reds
The Brewers are currently making their way a second time through the starting rotation, with Freddy Peralta and Nestor Cortes having already completed their second outings of the season. Under normal circumstances Aaron Civale would be next in line, but unfortunately Civale is on the injured list with a hamstring issue.
With the Brewers needing to fill another spot in the starting rotation, they have elected to give veteran southpaw Tyler Alexander the start. Prospect Carlos Rodriguez is present in Milwaukee, but rather than make a transaction to activate him it will be Alexander making his first start in a Brewers uniform.
Alexander is no stranger to starting games, having made 52 of them in the past. However, at best he will only fill a few innings for the Brewers Friday night. One reason why Milwaukee may have elected to essentially go with a bullpen game against the Reds is due to the length that Freddy Peralta and Nestor Cortes provided over the past few days. Peralta tossed eight innings (that game did go into the 11th inning) and Cortes six.
However, this means that Grant Anderson and/or Connor Thomas are likely to follow Alexander. Anderson last pitched on March 31 and Thomas March 29. Both pitchers gave up crooked numbers in their lone appearance of the season.
It will be interesting to see if the Brewers can extend their winning streak to four games during a bullpen game. If they can’t, and the bullpen gets taxed, there is a realistic chance that Rodriguez gets activated afterwards so that way Milwaukee has more pitching options for the weekend.
