MILWAUKEE -- It might feel like Opening Day was just yesterday, but a quarter of the Brewers’ regular season was in the books after they beat the Padres, 7-1, on Thursday afternoon at American Family Field.
Time flies, even for the players.
“That’s crazy,” left-hander Kyle Harrison said. “Wow.”
Harrison threw five scoreless innings and Luis Rengifo matched his season high with three RBIs in his third straight multi-hit game, as Milwaukee finished a 5-1 homestand against a pair of first-place teams in the Yankees and Padres. The Brewers are back to a season-high seven games over .500 (24-17) after their fifth straight series win or split.
What has Harrison, who was acquired in a trade with Boston during the first week of Spring Training, learned about his new team?
“Man, a lot,” he said. “We don’t really get hung up on one game. I think it’s more the mindset of never giving up, just work relentlessly and when game time comes, let’s go out and compete.”
Here are three more takeaways from the first quarter of the Brewers’ season:
1. They’ve survived early stresses
The Brewers were without Jackson Chourio, Andrew Vaughn and Christian Yelich for most of the first quarter of the season. On the pitching side, starters Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff, and workhorse reliever Jared Koenig, all missed significant time.
Despite all that, Milwaukee has stayed within sight of the National League Central-leading Cubs, who already have a pair of double-digit winning streaks.
(MLB ranks as of Thursday afternoon.)
Hitters
Runs per game: 5.10 (3rd)
On-base percentage: .336 (4th)
Weighted runs created plus: 100 (14th)
Bunt hits: 15 (1st)
Home runs: 27 (30th)
Pitchers
Earned run average: 3.35 (3rd)
Starters’ ERA: 3.27 (4th)
Relievers’ ERA: 3.44 (7th)
Fielding independent pitching: 3.35 (1st)
Strikeout rate: 26.5 (1st)
Team
Run differential: +60 (4th)
“We still have a lot of games left -- 121 is a lot of games,” catcher William Contreras said. “That’s like a full season, so you can’t think too much about how much we’ve done. I know if we keep pitching like we’ve been pitching, we’ll be good.”
2. Signs of life for slumping hitters
Rengifo set the right tone Thursday by making a slick fielding play to save a run in the first inning before knocking a two-run single in the bottom of the frame to continue his most productive stretch since signing a free-agent deal with the Brewers just as Spring Training was getting underway.
By going 7-for-12 over his last three games, Rengifo added 41 points to his batting average just like that. And that’s after shortstop Joey Ortiz enjoyed his finest game of the season in Tuesday’s series opener against San Diego, with two hits and two RBIs, including his first home run.
“It’s just focus,” said Rengifo, who was hitting .179 going into Sunday’s series finale against the Yankees. “I’ve said before, this is a process. It’s a long season. You have to be consistent every single time. It feels good right now.”
Is it hard to keep that focus?
“It’s more mental,” he said. “But you have to work. You have to stay [consistent] every time you come to the field.”
3. Misiorowski and Harrison have carried a young rotation
The duo ranks 1-2 on the team in innings (51 for Misiorowski, 38 2/3 for Harrison) strikeouts (Major League-leading 80 for Misiorowski, 48 for Harrison) and ERA among the starters (2.09 for Harrison, 2.12 for Misiorowski) after Harrison bobbed and weaved for five innings on Thursday, navigating a couple of long layoffs while the Brewers scored three runs in each of the first two innings.
“Try to keep up with ‘Miz.’ That’s been the thing,” Harrison said. “It’s a really talented staff, as we all know.”
The Brewers have to be thrilled to rank in MLB’s top five in starters’ ERA considering the season-long absence of Priester and Woodruff’s setback at the end of April. Without those two, Milwaukee's most experienced starter is Harrison, who went into the 2026 season with one year, 102 days of Major League service.
No other of the Brewers’ regular starters had more than a year in the big leagues.