Milwaukee Brewers: Why Freddy Peralta didn’t start on Monday

DENVER — Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta was scheduled to start the opener of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies, but was shuffled out of the rotation before the Labor Day matinee got underway. Fatigue played a factor in the decision, according to Brewers manager Craig Counsell.

Adrian Houser drew the start for the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday in Peralta’s place.

Why was Freddy Peralta taken out of the Milwaukee Brewers rotation on Monday against the Colorado Rockies?

Counsell said that Peralta will likely still be in line for his start during a home doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants this weekend. However, giving the 26-year-old right-hander a bit of a break (especially in the altitude of Denver) seemed to make the most sense in Counsell’s eyes.

“We’re shooting for the doubleheader, but we’re going to use the next couple days here to kind of diagnose and make sure that he’s ready to do that,” Counsell said. “Obviously he’s pitching very well. He’s obviously exited games like around the 80-pitch mark a couple times, and that’s because he’s fatiguing.”

Peralta made it past 80 pitches in just three of his six August starts, going six innings on two different occasions against the Chicago Cubs. In one of those starts, an eventual 6-5 loss to the Cubs, he threw 95 pitches, his fourth-highest total all season.

Counsell said that Peralta has been fine between starts, but he noticed something different as Peralta’s start approached against the Rockies.

“He’s feeling good for most of his starts,” Counsell said. “Between starts, we think we shouldn’t get him to the point where that fifth day, going into the day he pitches, he should feel ready to go. Yesterday after playing catch, we just didn’t feel like he’d crossed that threshold.”

Counsell added that the plan, if all goes well, is to have Peralta get back on his normal schedule after skipping the start in Denver as the Brewers wrap up a seven-game road trip.

“The goal is to get it back to regular five days,” Counsell said. “We did look at, if he didn’t pitch today and kind of the schedule moving forward, [we] have the ability to give him some extra rest in his next couple of starts, in hopes that that would put this behind us.”

Additionally, the Brewers have a favorable schedule coming up with off days on September 12 and 15 which should provide a break for all of their pitchers, Counsell added.

“We have two off days next week, so everybody’s going to get at least one extra day,” he said.