Peralta ties Crew postseason record with 9 K's: 'He's going to drive the bus for us'

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers’ hope of reversing their recent postseason misfortune starts -- quite literally -- with Freddy Peralta. Don't take it from us. Take it from Peralta’s longtime teammate Brandon Woodruff.

“I was thinking about it today -- he’s going to drive the bus for us,” Woodruff said after Peralta helped steer the way to a 9-3 win over the Cubs in Game 1 of the NLDS at American Family Field on Saturday. “We need to win every game he starts, we really do. Then we can piece stuff together.

“But if he can drive the bus for us, it’s going to take us a long ways.”

Woodruff is sidelined for the NLDS and potentially beyond by a right lat injury, which is only part of the reason Peralta is so important to a Brewers team driven by pitching and defense. Backed by six runs of support in the first inning and three more in the second, the 29-year-old shook off Michael Busch’s leadoff home run and went on to tie the Brewers’ postseason mark with nine strikeouts while delivering 5 2/3 innings against the Cubs.

It was just the sort of bulk and quality the Brewers were hoping to get from their Opening Day starter and unquestioned No. 1 pitcher.

“Tremendous,” catcher William Contreras said. “The same Freddy we’ve seen all year long.”

Peralta tied three franchise mainstays for the most strikeouts in a postseason game:

• Woodruff, 2020 NL Wild Card Series Game 2 at Dodgers
• Yovani Gallardo, 2011 NLDS Game 1 vs. D-backs
• Don Sutton, 1982 AL Championship Series Game 3 vs. Angels

For Peralta, it was a continuation of a regular season in which he went 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA, leading the NL in victories and leading the team in starts (33) and innings (176 2/3).

But first, he had to shake off Busch’s home run on the game’s fourth pitch.

“I never want to start a game like that, but that’s happened to me many times in my career and I have shown to myself that it doesn’t matter,” Peralta said. “If I give up one or two runs in the first inning, I have probably 90 more pitches for the game, and that’s what I was able to do today.”

Peralta had a prime opportunity to become the first Brewers pitcher with double-digit strikeouts in a postseason game when he put Cubs left fielder Ian Happ into a two-strike count in the sixth. But Happ connected for a solo homer, then Carson Kelly singled to knock Peralta out of the game with the Brewers leading, 9-2.

Still, it was a job well done, and a sellout crowd rewarded Peralta with a standing ovation.

“Him and William navigated a really good lineup, a hot lineup, a lineup that’s confident, experienced with a ton of All-Stars,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It’s tougher to pitch up 6-1 than you think. Against a lineup like that, this guy battled, battled, and made pitches over and over. Him and William worked through this lineup that’s treacherous and has seen Freddy many times.”

Once part of a triumvirate of No. 1-type starters with Woodruff and Corbin Burnes in Milwaukee, Peralta now stands alone. Quinn Priester had a terrific season, but the Brewers weren’t ready as of Saturday to name him their Game 2 starter. Veteran Jose Quintana, meanwhile, is coming off a calf injury.

Should the Brewers advance to a best-of-seven series, they would have to piece things together from there.

“I feel like the last two years, he assumed that role of being ‘the guy,’” Woodruff said. “And it’s like, he’s caught -- not a lot of flack, but people harp on him for not pitching deep in the games. I think this year we’ve seen the way he’s mixed his stuff. He’s grown as a pitcher.

“Watching from afar and watching him today, even with the leadoff homer, I’m watching him take his time, take a breath. Honestly, pitching in the playoffs, that [experience] helps. We got exactly what we needed out of him.”