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Despite the loss, Peralta credits his successful outing to staying on his plan

Brewers starter Freddy Peralta struggled at times against the San Francisco Giants, yet in the end, he gave up no runs during five innings on Saturday, Aug. 23, at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

The 2025 Milwaukee Brewers may not yet have a universally embraced nickname, but they’re certainly going for the mantle once held by Team Streak.

Freddy Peralta takes the mound the afternoon of Sept. 10 in Arlington, Texas, with a longstanding franchise mark in his sights. With three scoreless innings, he would match the 32-inning scoreless streak put together by Teddy Higuera in the late stages of the 1987 season.

No Brewers starting pitcher has put together a longer streak. Peralta (16-5, 2.50 ERA), hasn’t allowed an earned run in any of his past five starts, a stretch in which he’s only allowed nine hits and 12 walks in 29 innings.

A second Brewers connection to 1987?

The added grace note on Peralta’s success has been a connection with Higuera, who was a central part of the 1987 team that won the first 13 games of the season in a row. This year’s Brewers passed that franchise mark in winning 14 straight to start August.

Higuera’s run occupied a much shorter timeframe and began on another streak-soaked date: Aug. 26, 1987. On that occasion, the Brewers won, 1-0, in 10 innings on a Rick Manning walk-off single. Fans at Milwaukee County Stadium famously booed the triumph because Paul Molitor was on deck; his inability to get one more at-bat meant his 39-game hitting streak had come to an end. No player in Major League Baseball has matched that feat since.

But Higuera worked all 10 innings in that victory over Cleveland, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks. It would be the first of five straight complete-game wins. ESPN once ranked the performance as the best single-game pitching performance in franchise history.

And yet, Higuera allowed only one hit the next time out, a 2-0 win against the Kansas City Royals on Sept. 1, with two walks and nine strikeouts over his nine innings. He lost a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth when Ross Jones tripled to left.

He followed that with another complete-game two-hitter in Minnesota on Sept. 6, with three walks and seven strikeouts. Higuera allowed both his hits in the first three innings and retired the final 16 men. That brought his scoreless streak to 28 innings.Against Detroit on Sept. 11, Higuera opened with four scoreless innings and nearly had a fifth before Tom Brookens hit a two-out home run to end the streak. 

Higuera ultimately won seven straight starts. The five complete games in a row is a marvel but perhaps also a curse, given the arm troubles that wound up short-circuiting his illustrious Brewers career.

Peralta with a run that looks very different from Higuera’s

Peralta’s streak has featured a polar-opposite level of starting-pitcher volume, but it has lasted over a longer period of time.

His streak technically dates to his Aug. 5 start in Atlanta. The Brewers’ official statkeeping regards whole innings for this record and not partial innings, ignoring outs achieved after surrendering a run in the same inning or before allowing a run in the next inning. Peralta allowed a home run to Atlanta’s Eli White in the fourth inning that day, but then worked a scoreless fifth in a 7-2 Brewers win.

Then came the next five starts. Counting the Atlanta game, Peralta has a 4-0 record in the run, and he was named National League Pitcher of the Month in August. The streak is already the second-longest for a starter in franchise history.

Aug. 12 vs. Pittsburgh: Six innings, three hits, seven strikeouts, one walk, 14-0 winAug. 18 at Chicago Cubs: Six innings, one hit, six strikeouts, three walks, 7-0 winAug. 23 vs. San Francisco: Five innings, two hits, six strikeouts, four walks, 7-1 lossAug. 29 at Toronto: Six innings, one hit, eight strikeouts, one walk, 7-2 winSept. 4 vs. Philadelphia: Five innings, two hits, eight strikeouts, three walks, 2-0 lossPeralta will get a chance at Brewers history against Texas

The Brewers will face the host Texas Rangers on Sept. 10, with a 1:35 p.m. first pitch. Milwaukee, trying to avoid a series sweep, will square off against former Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly (11-7, 3.16 ERA).