MILWAUKEE -- Every time he takes the mound, Quinn Priester looks more and more like the type of pitcher who could anchor a rotation for years to come.
Sunday afternoon was just the latest example of the young right-hander's rapid growth under the tutelage of the Milwaukee Brewers pitching development staff: six innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts and not a single walk in Milwaukee's series-clinching 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in front of a capacity crowd of 40,629 at American Family Field.
"Quinn was great," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "We've given him an opportunity and he's riding it."
And perhaps the opportunity is all Priester needed.
A first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, Priester had little to show for his brief MLB career when the Brewers shipped their No. 7 minor-league prospect, outfielder Yophery Rodriguez, along with a Competitive Balance Round draft pick and a player to be named later for the 24-year-old.
At the time of the trade, he owned a 6.23 ERA in 21 big-league appearances (15 starts) for the Pirates and Red Sox and was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in his lone appearance for Triple-A Worcester.
He got off to a decent start for the Brewers, beginning with a five-inning, one-run effort in his debut on April 10 then proceeded to allow just two runs over nine innings in his next two outings before getting knocked around in his next two starts by the Cardinals and Cubs, respectively, who combined for 12 runs on 14 hits over 9.1 innings.
Those rough outings weren't enough to shake Murphy's confidence in the youngster.
"There's some signs that you can see why we got him,” Murphy after he was tagged for seven runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 10-0 loss to the Cubs May 2. “There's some signs there that show the kid's got really good stuff, and he's a great competitor.”
Since then, though, Priester has been as good as it gets. Over his next seven starts, Priester posted a 2.35 ERA with 26 strikeouts and 10 walks over 38 1/3 innings and after his performance Sunday, Priester's ERA sits a 3.46.
While some tweaks to his mechanics and adjustments to his pitch mix have helped spark the turnaround, the biggest factor in Priester's recent success has been a growing sense of confidence -- in his stuff, in his ability and just in his presence in the major leagues.
Put it all together, and things just seem to be clicking.
“Just riding the momentum on these last couple starts,” Priester said. “You know that confidence plays a lot into that, too, where [you're] not being scared of the zone even a little bit and really forcing the issue in terms of getting contact.”
His manager thinks the best is yet to come.
“He believes he can do it. He's never been a full-time big leaguer. Now he knows he is. He's got support. He likes his infield. He's starting to get it.”
Offense Does Its Part
With Priester keeping the Cardinals' bats at bay, Milwaukee's lineup generated just enough offense against longtime nemesis Miles MIkolas to take the series.
Christian Yelich delivered the first blow, leading off the fourth with his 14th home run of the season to tie the game at 1. Milwaukee took the lead later in the inning on a sac fly by Drew Avans then added an insurance run in the seventh when Caleb Durbin led off with a single then scored on Sal Frelick's groundout to take a 3-1 lead.
The extra run proved important when Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera belted a solo shot in the eighth to make it a one-run game.
St. Louis threatened in the ninth when Nolan Arenado capped off a 12-pitch at-bat against closer Trevor Megill and put the winning run aboard when Nolan Gorman followed by reaching on a bunt.
Megill, though, locked in from there and struck out the next three batters for his 15th save of the season.
On their Best Behavior
A day after Willson Contreras and the Brewers found themselves mired in yet another kerfuffle, cooler heads seemed to prevail for the series finale.
Other than a brief moment when Contreras traded glances and words with Rhys Hoskins while running out a second-inning ground out, it was pretty much business as usual -- just with significantly more booing every time Contreras stepped into the batters' box.
Trainer's Room
RHP Brandon Woodruff threw a bullpen session Sunday morning and scheduled to throw another later this week before heading back out for another minor-league rehab assignment with the goal of getting him up to around 80 pitches before brining him back for his 2025 debut.
Around the Horn
OF Eddie Rosario opted out of his minor-league deal and became a free agent. Signed by Milwaukee on May 14, Rosario slashed .290/.373/.449 with 2 home runs, 11 RBIs and an .823 OPS in 20 games for Triple-A Nashville. ...
Attendance: 40,629 (1,086,308)
On Deck
After enjoying their first day off since June 5, the Brewers return to action Tuesday night when they make their first trip to Wrigley Field for a three-game series against the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. Right-hander Chad Patrick (3-6, 3.25 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener followed by right-hander Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 0.00) Wednesday and right-hander Freddy Peralta (6-4, 2.60) slated for the series finale Thursday afternoon.
The Brewers dropped a three-game series to the Cubs earlier this season at American Family Field in the first meeting between the two NL Central Division rivals.