DL Hall Punches Out Career-High Nine Batters as Brewers’ Winning Streak Ends at Five Games
Though the Milwaukee Brewers couldn’t extend their five-game winning streak on Sunday, they witnessed arguably the top performance of DL Hall’s young career, as he struck out a career-high nine batters in the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.
The 25-year-old lefty was activated off the 60-day IL prior to first pitch after missing significant time due to a knee injury. He hadn’t thrown a single pitch in the majors since facing the St. Louis Cardinals on April 20th.
But Hall certainly made up for lost time in his long-awaited return. The young southpaw pitched three shutout innings before running into trouble, allowing three runs on three hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch over his final inning and two-thirds.
Hall, acquired as part of a package from the Baltimore Orioles in last winter’s Corbin Burnes blockbuster, induced 12 whiffs on 39 swings over 4.2 innings – five via his slider. His fastball averaged 94.6 mph, up nearly two ticks from his season average (92.7), maxing out at 95.9.
The three runs he surrendered came on just two swings, a weakly-hit bloop single from Santiago Espinal with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and Tyler Stephenson’s solo blast in the fifth.
“Overall I thought it was a good step in the right direction,” Hall told reporters while reflecting on his first start back from injury, including the Associated Press.
The Brewers placed Hall on the IL one day after he injured his knee while fielding a bunt attempt versus the Cardinals. While he began a rehab assignment in May, the left-hander experienced a setback that sidelined him for almost a month.
If that weren’t enough, he took a comebacker off his left forearm during a Triple-A rehab start last month, adding another obstacle on his journey to return to the majors. By the end, his recovery from those ailments included 13 rehab appearances, 12 at Triple-A and one at High-A.
“I’m just super grateful to be back,” Hall said. “It seemed like it was never going to come this year after all the stuff that happened throughout rehab. I think just the thought of getting to feel that feeling again that I felt today just kept me going. I was just so ready to get back and I’m just blessed that I was able to.”
Milwaukee lost 4-3 to Cincinnati in Sunday’s finale, with Spencer Steer’s seventh-inning sac-fly serving as the game-winner. But Hall’s impressive return wasn’t forgotten, and perhaps it could be a sign of what’s to come down the stretch.
“I thought he threw the ball good,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It was really encouraging, the best he’s thrown all year, in my opinion that I’ve witnessed. I thought he deserved better luck.”
Hall struggled early on this season, recording a whopping 7.71 ERA while issuing 10 walks and only 13 strikeouts over his first four starts with the Brewers. He also failed to provide length, exiting after four innings or less in three of those four outings.
The results weren’t perfect this time, although it was a significant improvement compared to his earlier woes, especially for someone making just his sixth-career big-league start.
“I’d say pretty big difference as far as just how I feel just moving on the mound,” Hall said. “I think it plays a big part in all my pitches, not just the velo on my fastball but just like how everything else plays when my arm speed’s there and my body is moving how it’s supposed to.”
What lies ahead for Hall remains to be determined. The Brewers appear set with a starting five of ace Freddy Peralta – who’ll start Monday’s opener versus the Los Angeles Dodgers – Colin Rea, Frankie Montas, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale.
With one minor-league option remaining, Hall could bounce back and forth between the majors and minors in the short term, at least until rosters expand to 28 players on September 1st. Given his versatility as a starter and reliever, he may need to provide meaningful innings out of the bullpen moving forward.
The 21st-overall selection from 2017 served in that role during Baltimore’s brief playoff run last season, striking out six batters across 3.1 innings, and could look to make a similar impact with Milwaukee – which carries a 7.5-game lead for first in the NL Central into Monday’s slate.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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