MILWAUKEE -- If you had Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe as the pitching duo that would put the Brewers in the win column for the first time in 2025, step up and claim your prize.
Patrick, a 26-year-old rookie right-hander, wasn¡¯t even supposed to make the Brewers¡¯ Opening Day roster, and was so sick on Monday that he spent the Brewers¡¯ home opener in bed. Uribe, a reliever with a triple-digit fastball and a temperament to match, had to sit out the first four games of the season on suspension. With Milwaukee off to a miserable start and the pitching staff stretched to the limit by spring injuries, that unlikely duo combined to secure some of the biggest outs of Tuesday¡¯s 5-0 Brewers win over the Royals at American Family Field in a four-hit shutout.
Patrick returned from his illness and harnessed his signature cutter to scatter three hits while pitching into the fifth inning in his first Major League start. Uribe covered four outs in his season debut and Eric Haase and Christian Yelich homered to finally put Milwaukee in the win column after four straight losses.
¡°Yesterday I was down bad,¡± Patrick said. ¡°I found a way to get in there today and get a nice win for the team.¡±
Later, he said what everyone else was thinking.
¡°This is exactly what we needed,¡± Patrick said. ¡°This team needed a win today.¡±
He wasn¡¯t going to miss the opportunity to be part of it. After making his Major League debut during the Brewers¡¯ disastrous weekend at Yankee Stadium, this was an opportunity to start a game close to home. Patrick graduated from Hebron High School in northwest Indiana in a class of 81 students, which provides some context for the crowd of about 300 family, friends, coaches and teammates who were in the stands in Milwaukee.
Then there were the stakes for the team. The Brewers were not only 0-4 to start a season for the first time in a decade, they¡¯d been blown out in the last three games, including an 11-1 Royals rout in Milwaukee¡¯s home opener on Monday. The Brewers¡¯ MLB-worst 12.27 ERA was nearly five runs worse than the next-worst team. Their 17 home runs allowed put the Brewers on a pace to serve up 688 homers this season, which would leave the record set by the 2019 Orioles¡¯ (305) in the dust.
Of course, that was all due to even out, and Patrick did his part to put things back in order by dealing the first scoreless first inning for a Brewers starter this season.
¡°I think he pulled himself together really good,¡± said Haase, who caught a number of Patrick¡¯s starts last season when the right-hander won the Triple-A International League¡¯s triple crown by leading the circuit in wins, ERA and strikeouts. ¡°Under the weather, and I¡¯m sure he had a lot of nerves. He had his whole hometown here watching him.¡±
¡°I couldn¡¯t miss the start,¡± Patrick said. ¡°I had too many people coming to the game. But it did cross my mind that I didn¡¯t know if I was going to be 100 percent to go. I honestly probably wasn¡¯t 100 percent, but I gave it my best effort.¡±
He credited Haase, whose solo home run in the third inning marked the first time this season that the Brewers finished an inning with the lead.
It happened in their 39th inning of 2025. But it happened.
¡°Pitching with the lead is awesome,¡± Patrick said.
The bullpen made that lead hold. Jared Koenig relieved Patrick with two runners aboard and preserved a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning before Uribe inherited a similar jam in the sixth and struck out Maikel Garcia. Uribe celebrated when he retired Bobby Witt Jr. to finish a scoreless seventh.
Considering Uribe opened last season as Milwaukee¡¯s closer before he received a suspension for his role in a fight with the Rays, a demotion to the Minors and knee surgery derailed his season, Uribe could prove critical to Milwaukee overcoming its early-season injury issues.
¡°Waiting those four days, it¡¯s not an easy thing,¡± Uribe said. ¡°I¡¯ve been nervous a lot. Now, I¡¯m good.¡±
Back in the win column, the Brewers were feeling the same.
¡°Momentum is very real, and unfortunately it goes both ways,¡± Haase said. ¡°We got off to a little bit of a bad start, but it felt like a fluke to us. We know that¡¯s not the kind of baseball we play.¡±