Aaron

Ashby

Abner Uribe went unused today after his controversial gestures at the conclusion of Tuesday’s game. Aaron Ashby ended up with the win after working scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and Megill closed things out despite a one-out single and a steal from Masyn Winn. Since giving up seven runs in a two-appearance span in mid-April, Megill has a 1.29 ERA and an 18/2 K/BB in his last 14 innings of work. Still, Uribe likely remains the favorite for saves in Milwaukee.

Trevor Megill, Aaron Ashby and Uribe all had easy innings in a tie game today, even though Ashby was pitching again after throwing two innings last night. For once, the win went to someone other than Ashby after Brice Turang’s walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth. Uribe’s appearance was his ninth straight to come in the ninth inning of a game.

Ashby struck out three after coming into a tie game to begin the ninth. He has a 2.16 ERA while throwing 25 innings in the Brewers’ first 36 games. It’ll be interesting to see if he can stay healthy with his kind of usage, because he’s definitely had issues there previously. He’s been one of the Brewers’ MVPs to date.

In what seems to be their preferred alignment at the moment, the Brewers against went with Trevor Megill in the seventh, Aaron Ashby in the eighth and Uribe in the ninth. All got through scoreless frames, but Megill and Ashby both allowed two baserunners. Uribe, who struck out two, had the best day of the group, adding a little to his stock.

Chad Patrick will be the follower against Washington and be (much more likely) to be in line for the win. This is generally good news for Patrick. Ashby should probably be pulled in shallow leagues with daily transactions as he stands little chance of garnering a win.

If he can stay healthy and avoid having the Brewers treat him as an opener, Ashby might be the favorite to lead the majors in relief victories this season. The left-hander had a 2.16 ERA over 66 2/3 innings in his 43 appearances last season, and the Brewers aren’t shy about employing quick hooks with their starting pitchers.

On the plus side, Ashby piled up four strikeouts on the afternoon, though he also issued a pair of walks. Despite the parade of baserunners against him, the only run charged to Ashby in this one came on an RBI single by Dalton Rushing in the third inning — the final hitter that he faced. The 27-year-old southpaw got four swings and misses on 50 pitches in the ballgame, registering a strong CSW of 38 percent. The expectation remains that he’ll pitch out of the Brewers’ bullpen to open the 2026 campaign.

Ashby allowed a pair of two-out singles in the first inning but battled back to get Danny Jansen to ground out to end the threat. He then allowed a single and a walk in the second inning but was able to evade damage on the strength of a caught stealing and a double play ball. The 27-year-old hurler showed diminished velocity in this one, averaging 94.9 mph on his fastball (-2.0 mph). Given their crowded starting rotation, Ashby is likely to find himself in a bullpen role to open the regular season, which saps him of most of his potential fantasy value.

It was initially thought that veteran lefty Jose Quintana would make a bulk relief appearance on Thursday night in Los Angeles, but it seems the Brewers want to save him for a critical Game 4 showdown instead. Misiorowski, who will follow lefty opener Aaron Ashby in this one, allowed one run over four innings to pick up the win in last weekend’s NLDS-clinching Game 5 win over the Cubs. The hard-throwing 23-year-old rookie righty holds a pristine 1.29 ERA over seven innings across two appearances this postseason. It’s a small sample size, but the results back up the belief many held that he would be a dominant bullpen arm if he ever made the switch to a full-time relief role.

It’ll be Ashby’s third appearance as an opener and seventh overall in the Brewers’ eight postseason games. He pitched a scoreless first inning against the Dodgers in Game 1 on Monday and then got two outs in the seventh inning of Game 2 on Tuesday. The Brewers could use Jacob Misiorowski and/or Jose Quintana behind Ashby tonight.