As most of you already know, the site has been down for most of the day.  The folks at SportsBubbler did a great job getting things up and running as quickly as possible.  Hopefully, everything is now solved.

The Brewers claimed their first victory of Spring Training, beating the Oakland A's 8-5.

The contest was really a tale of two halves.

Over the first five innings of the game, the two clubs were scoreless and pitching dominated.  Manny Parra, Mark DiFelice, and Omar Aguilar all tossed scoreless frames before the bats heated up for both sides in the sixth.

Parra specifically looked sharp on the mound.  He struck out one and did not allow a walk.  Parra kept the ball down very well and only gave up one baserunner in his two frames -- a single to Jason Giambi.  The southpaw featured wonderful control of his fastball and a particularly nasty splitter.  It was a welcome sight for Brewers fans to see Parra command the strike zone so masterfully. 

Despite the scoreless inning thrown by Omar Aguilar, Brian Anderson and Rock made it sound like the right-hander struggled with his command.  He started his first hitter of the game down 3-0 in the count and surrendered a single to Bobby Crosby.  Omar escaped the inning unscathed, however, mostly thanks to an unassisted double play by Prince Fielder.  The Brewers first baseman snagged a Joe Dillon liner and stepped on first to complete the double play.  If that ball gets by Prince, Aguilar is looking at giving up at least one run in the fifth.

Offensively in the first five innings, Milwaukee could get nothing going.  Oakland's pitching staff once again handcuffed the Brewers regulars.  Former Brewer Dana Eveland looked great on the mound as well, inducing four groundouts and a strikeout.

Things changed once some minor leaguers entered the game in the sixth inning.

Milwaukee's bats broke out and managed to pound out eight runs on fourteen hits.  Angel Salome hit a long, two-run home run to dead-center field in the ninth inning.  Scott Thorman continued his fine spring, going 2-for-2 with an RBI double and a run scored.  The first baseman is now hitting .833 over the first three games of Spring Training.

Minor league outfielders Cutter Dykstra and Logan Schafer also got their first hits and RBIs in a big league setting.  Dykstra smoked an RBI double off Oakland's James Simmons, and Schafer collected an RBI single and a stolen base in his first Cactus League outing.

In contrast to the first five innings of the game, the Brewers pitching staff struggled in the second half of the game.

R.J. Swindle, Chris Narveson, and Chase Wright all gave up runs in their outings.  Wright particularly struggled with his control, giving up back-to-back doubles in the ninth inning.  The lefty could not keep the ball down in the strike zone.  That allowed Oakland hitters to tee off all afternoon.  Control pitchers like Wright usually take longer to progress in Spring Training, but it would have been nice to see Wright impress a bit more in his first outing in a Brewers uniform.

A couple other notes:

• Alcides Escobar flashed some spectacular defense throughout the game.  He almost made a sprawling catch behind second base, as the ball glanced off the top of his glove.  He also made a Gold Glove-caliber play according to Brian Anderson.  Escobar showed his terrific range by collecting the ball well behind second, spinning around, and making a perfect throw to first.  The kid can play defense.  He even collected an RBI single and a stolen base in his first Spring Training start.
• I am coming around to Chris Duffy making the 25-man roster.  He has displayed stellar defense in center field and has shown more power than Tony Gwynn Jr. could hope to bring to Milwaukee.  After tripling in yesterday's game, Chris doubled deep off the wall in the ninth inning on Friday.  Gwynn's injury has given Duffy a chance to showcase his skills in center, and the young man is taking full advantage of it.

Records:  Brewers (1-1-1); Athletics (0-2-1)

On Tap

The Milwaukee Brewers will send Braden Looper to the mound to take on the Los Angeles Angels.  The first pitch will be at approximately 2:05pm CT.