Royals 7, Brewers 3; White Sox 5, Brewers 2: Milwaukee swept on split-squad day

Game recap

Royals 7, Brewers 3

Milwaukee held a 1-0 lead after six innings, then Kansas City came back with a run in the seventh to tie it, two in the eighth and four in the ninth at American Family Fields of Phoenix.

Eleven pitchers appeared in all for the Brewers, but starter Robert Gasser, DL Hall and Tate Kuehner all threw scoreless innings to start preceding another cavalcade of minor-leaguers taking the mound.

William Contreras drove in the lone run for Milwaukee, with a laser-beam double off the top of the wall in his second at-bat.

–∙ Contreras challenged, and won, the first pitch thrown by Gasser on the day – a cutter down and away to Maikel Garcia.

“I honestly didn’t see him challenge it, but I’m glad he did,” Gasser said. “I was fighting it a little bit early today and him challenging it and getting that out of the way was kind of a breath of fresh air. Like, ‘Let’s just have some fun and play baseball now.'”

Contreras had another successful challenge later as well.

– Jett Williams started at shortstop against the Royals, meaning in the first two days of Cactus League play he’s already logged time at every infield position but first base.

Manager Pat Murphy is on record as saying Williams will also see some time in center field as camp wears on.

At Camelback Ranch, the Brewers fell to the Chicago White Sox, 5-2. With losses in both split-squad games, Milwaukee fell to 0-3 in Cactus League play after two days.

Starter Logan Henderson threw a scoreless inning but right-handed prospect Bryce Meccage was hit hard later in the game, allowing three runs on three hits in ⅔ inning to ultimately be saddled with the loss.

Akil Baddoo homered and Andrew Vaughn had the lone multi-hit game for the Brewers (two hits).

Brewers catcher William hit a ringing double against the Royals in Cactus League action on Sunday.

Quotable

“I got nothing,” Tyler Black when asked for his immediate thoughts following Team USA’s 2-1 overtime victory over Team Canada in the gold-medal game in the Winter Olympics on Sunday morning.

Black played hockey as a youth in Toronto and is an avid fan. He took plenty of grief from his American teammates in the aftermath of the thriller but was a good sport about it.

Prospect watch

Right-hander Bishop Letson – Milwaukee’s No. 6 prospect as ranked by the Journal Sentinel – was impressive in his Cactus League debut, throwing a 1-2-3 fifth inning with two strikeouts against Kansas City. His 13th and final pitch was a 97.7-mph fastball that caught Tyler Tolbert looking.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of good grades on him, a lot of good comments on him,” said Murphy. “But you have to see him in the environment. This isn’t just about stuff; this is about competing at the big-league level.”

Brock Wilken, dealing with a right shoulder impingement, hit a two-run homer in the ninth against the Royals.

“It’s hard to tell at the end of the game. You’re not facing major league pitching,” Murphy said. “Hit the ball hard twice. He’s definitely a force.”