Gasser seizing opportunities as Priester, Woodruff get back on track

LAS VEGAS – With Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff all the way down in the Arizona Complex League trying to get their own seasons on track, the opportunity is in front of Robert Gasser to cement his spot in the Brewers’ big league rotation.

But this was not the venue to gauge his progress by the box score.

On one hand, Gasser surrendered four home runs in Tuesday’s 7-5 loss to the A’s at Las Vegas Ballpark. But on the other hand, he covered five innings to keep his team’s pitching in decent shape for Wednesday’s series finale, which is no small feat considering how the first two power-packed games of this series have unfolded. He also threw 93 pitches, the most in any outing since Tommy John surgery cut short Gasser’s promising showing as a rookie two years ago, and struck out seven.

“You go in knowing that if you have a barrel, odds are it’s probably going to go out, so you’re just trying to limit those,” said the 27-year-old left-hander. “I just have to execute some of those offspeed pitches better.”

The A’s hit five more home runs on Tuesday night after matching a Major League record by hitting seven in a 15-14 loss the night before, giving them a franchise record-tying 12 home home runs over a two-game span. It will be Brandon Sproat’s job to limit the damage when he starts Wednesday’s series finale for Milwaukee.

The Brewers homered only once, on a Jackson Chourio opposite-field fly ball two batters into the night that carried over the fence. The A’s answered with home runs in each of the first two innings and led the rest of the way. They held that lead thanks to relievers Elvis Alvarado and Mason Barnett, who combined to strike out eight of the Brewers’ final 10 hitters en route to 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

“Those two kids that came in were special,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

And his assessment of Gasser?

“He chewed up 15 outs and we were within striking distance,” Murphy said. “He’s got to grow from this and understand that to pitch in the big leagues, he’s got to have an ‘out’ pitch. You’ve got to have something they can swing at and miss. He got into a little bit of a groove there in the middle. There’s a lot to like.”

Meanwhile, Woodruff and Priester were 300 miles away in Phoenix, comprising what has to be one of the most decorated starting rotations in the history of the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. The Brewers sent those pitchers there to take advantage of that league’s relaxed Spring Training pitching rules, which allow teams to pull pitchers mid-inning and then reinsert them the following inning in order to control pitch counts.

If that’s what it takes to get those pitchers on a path back to the big leagues, it’s worth enduring the heat. Priester has been sidelined since Spring Training by thoracic outlet syndrome, struggling to find the feel he needs to throw strikes. Woodruff, coming off a multi-year comeback from shoulder surgery, has been down since experiencing a dead arm sensation in a late-April start that accompanied a severe dip in velocity.

The Brewers thought some outings in the ACL might do the trick, and maybe they will. The box scores don’t often tell the full story, especially in the low levels of the Minor Leagues with teenagers catching. But here’s what they say about Priester’s and Woodruff’s starts the past two days:

Priester: Threw only 35 of 73 pitches for strikes in 2 2/3 innings on Monday against the Dodgers’ affiliate. He was charged with three earned runs on one hit, five walks and three wild pitches, striking out four.

Woodruff: Threw 47 of 68 pitches for strikes in 3 2/3 innings against the Guardians’ club on Tuesday and was charged with three earned runs on five hits, with two walks and five strikeouts while topping out at 92.8 mph. The Brewers still believe Woodruff could make it back to the Major League rotation before the end of June.

Meanwhile, it’s an opportunity for Gasser to answer the Brewers’ needs.

“It’s the most pitches since surgery, so that’s another good milestone for me,” he said. “I’m battling. I had a really good stretch of hitters in there that I’m really happy about. Just a couple of pitches got away.

“I feel good. I’m definitely still working through a couple of things, but that’s just consistency. Getting dinged up a little bit early this year set me off a little bit, but I’m getting back into the feel of being a pitcher and working through a lineup three or four times.”