The Milwaukee Brewers have sold right-handed reliever Oliver Drake to Cleveland. The deal was announced shortly after Drake had been designated for assignment. He pitched in 11 games this year for the Brewers, striking out 15 batters in 12-and-two-thirds innings, with an earned run average of six-point-39. Only two teams have a worse E-R-A than the Indians’ mark of five-point-11. Drake has a five-and-five won-loss record in 102 appearances during his career. He also pitched for the Baltimore Orioles.
We’re one-fifth of the way through the 2018 Major League Baseball season and the Milwaukee Brewers batters have yet to hit their stride. The new stars, Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, have done their part, but Travis Shaw is in a four-for-42 slump and Eric Sogard is oh-for-27. Despite sitting in second place in the National League Central, one game out of first, Milwaukee is next-to-last in the league in scoring at just three-point-77 runs-a-game. Batters are walking at the same rate as last year and striking out less, making almost exactly the same amount of hard contact — giving reason to believe the Brewers can turn it back on.