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Brewers’ Aaron Civale gets daunting first assignment after Rays trade
After being acquired from Tampa Bay, Civale has a tough first start ahead of him.
The Milwaukee Brewers have added a new name to their starting pitching rotation by landing Aaron Civale in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
After languishing with the Rays, Civale jumps from the frying pan into the fire, as he now joins the NL Central-leading Brewers. He’ll have his work cut out for him from the get-go, because his first start in a Brewers uniform will be on Friday against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, per Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
“Aaron Civale will start Friday in LA, Pat Murphy said. Followed by Freddy Peralta and Dallas Keuchel. Bryse Wilson will pitch out the bullpen at least for the time being.”
The Dodgers of course feature an absolutely loaded lineup. Even without star shortstop Mookie Betts, who is dealing with a hand injury, Los Angeles has Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernandez all currently raking.
Civale had a few good seasons with the Cleveland Guardians before joining the Rays midway through last season but has not been very productive in Tampa Bay. In 132.1 innings over 27 starts, he produced an ERA of 5.17 and a FIP of 4.33. He has historically been very good at preventing walks and getting batters to chase outside of the zone, making him an intriguing option for Milwaukee to bring in at this point in time.
