The Milwaukee Milkmen Maintain a 6 game lead
With the American Association of baseball’s All-Star game now over, the Milkmen have begun the second half of their season. And while they suffered a tough loss (5-0) on Sunday, Milwaukee still has a six game lead in the East Division.
Milwaukee is tied for the best record in all of the American Association of Professional baseball with the Kansas City Monarchs who are “best in the West”.
The Milwaukee Milkmen also lost a close game Saturday to the same opponent, the Winnipeg Goldeyes, 8-7. However on Friday the Milkmen put an ole fashioned beatdown on Winnipeg, winning 19-4. That was preceded by another awesome victory on Thursday as Milwaukee won 11-0.
Sunday’s Loss was filled with promise
Milwaukee hit the ball hard on Sunday’s loss to Winnipeg. The problem was they hit it right at Goldeye defenders, leading to quick outs. With ACE all-star pitcher Christian Young on the bump I’m sure Milwaukee would have loved a different outcome.
The game was 1-0 Winnipeg in the top of the third when a couple fortuitous plays really went Winnipeg’s way. After an awesome pick-off play to get Winnipeg to two outs, a two out double by Max Murphy made the score 3-0. Young then continued to battle and ended the inning on a well-pitched strikeout. (At least Milkmen fans were given a staff-wide 8k performance, leading to the infamous discounted “Teriyaki Madness”.)
In the fifth Winnipeg really benefited from some wild plays on offense. After getting it down to 2 outs, Keith Torres turned a walk into a run by stealing second, advancing on a wild pitch and then scoring on a hit by Jacob Bockelie. Then Najee Gaskins had an interesting hit to score Bockelie. That led to Young’s removal after 4 ⅔ where he gave up 7 hits.
For Winnipeg Joey Matulovich was lights out, pitching 8 strong innings and only giving up 2 hits. But again, it wasn’t that the Milkmen weren’t hitting, it was just that everything they seemed to hit was hit hard and hit right at the defense.
Related: The Milkmen at the all-star break
Up next for the Milkmen is another home series against the Lincoln Saltdogs.
The Saltdogs had a few hitters in the AA home run derby and bring in a 32-29 record.
Individual Player Updates
For Milwaukee you really can tell they have some of the best players and coaching in the American Association of Professional Baseball.
Related: All-star week continues
The Milkmen have a ton of all-stars.
They also have a ton of speed. Bryan Torres leads the league with 44 stolen bases. He plays a lighting quick leadoff role for the team.
Outfielder Reggie Pruitt Jr. has 26 stolen bases and infielder Aaron Hill has 23 stolen bases.
The hitting for the Milkmen has been great too! Catcher Roy Morales (.342 avg) and second baseman Bryan Torres (who leads the league in batting average with a .357 avg) are having dynamic hitting years. Cam Baego (9 home runs) and Gabriel Cancel (6 home runs) were also all-star game reserves.
On the pitching side the E.R.A. of some of Milwaukee’s pitchers is excellent. They just don’t give up many runs.
Gregori Vasquez leads the AA in E.R.A. with a 1.74 E.R.A. Young is 4th in the league. (Young is also 4th in the AA in strikeouts.) Starting pitcher Ryan Zimmerman is in a statistical dead-heat for 6th in the league in E.R.A. 3.39. He is also having a great season. He is 7-1 and has thrown sixty strikeouts.
What’s Next
Baseball in the summer continues with the teams having 35+ games remaining. (Approx 18 home games)
For a more detailed look the the upcoming schedule click here
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