On Monday night, the Milwaukee Brewers suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the opening game of their series. Aaron Ashby made his first appearance since October 5, 2022, and the Brewers came back from an early 8-0 deficit to trail 9-8 in the late innings.
The Brewers, unfortunately, were unable to overcome their three early errors (there were initially four, but one error that was originally attributed to first baseman Rhys Hoskins was altered to a hit).
Cincinnati Reds Shortstop Elly de la Cruz Gave the Milwaukee Brewers Trouble
Elly de la Cruz, the shortstop for the Reds, was batting going into the opening series game.with 0 home runs, 242/.324/.394. On the other hand, Cincinnati was and continues to dominate Major League Baseball in stolen bases. The speed, particularly de la Cruz’s, appeared to cause problems for the Brewers infielders.
Joey Ortiz, the third baseman, had two mistakes, while Hoskins made just one. Sal Frelick attempted a disastrous diving catch on a de la Cruz liner in center field, which resulted in a home run within the park.
De la Cruz improved to 3-4 overall, with two home runs and two RBI, bringing his hitting line up to.297/.366/.595 overall.
William Contreras, the catcher for Milwaukee, had harsh comments for his teammates after the game on how they handled de la Cruz and the Reds’ quick baserunners.
Milwaukee Brewers William Contreras Calls Out His Team After Committing Three Errors
After the game, Contreras spoke with media and stated (via Adam McCalvy):
“I think it’s really a conversation we need to have with the whole team. He’s a good player, but he’s not from another world. There’s no need to do anything crazy. He’s a good player, but we have good players here, too.”
The fact that the Brewers almost overcame an 8-0 deficit is unmistakable evidence of their abundance of talented players. Whatever was discussed must have been effective as well, for Milwaukee defeated the Reds 9-5 on Tuesday. De la Cruz was held to a 1-4 line by Milwaukee pitchers, highlighted by Joe Ross, who made history by being the first Brewers starting pitcher to pitch into the seventh inning this season. Although he scored a run and had an RBI, the defense was far more restrained in how it handled his baserunning.
William Contreras Is Off to a Hot Start for the Milwaukee Brewers
Regarding himself, Contreras is having a great start to his second season with the Brewers. He won the Silver Slugger in 2023, and with early season numbers of.375/.435/.625 with two home runs and nine RBI, he is putting up a strong fight to win it again.
He is making early strides in improving his ability to avoid hitting into double plays. With 23 of these, Contreras led the National League in the previous season. He has grounded into just one double play in ten games.
