MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers added some depth to their injury-riddled pitching staff Tuesday by acquiring 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel, who has spent all of this season in the minor leagues.

Milwaukee added the 36-year-old left-hander from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for cash. Keuchel, who played three seasons at the University of Arkansas from 2007-09, has gone 7-4 with a 3.93 ERA in 13 starts with the Mariners’ Class AAA affiliate in Tacoma this season.

“The expectation is you don’t sign him to keep him in the minor leagues,” Milwaukee Manager Pat Murphy said before the Brewers’ Tuesday night game with the Texas Rangers. “We’re not looking for minor league depth.”

Keuchel last pitched in the majors with the Minnesota Twins in 2023, when he went 2-1 with a 5.97 ERA in 10 appearances.

“The fact that he still wants to play, the fact that he still wants to do it after all he’s accomplished, I think that sends a message right there,” Murphy said. “He’s a ballplayer.”

Keuchel owns a 103-92 record and 4.02 ERA in a major league career that includes two All-Star appearances, in 2015 and 2017. He went 20-8 with a 2.43 ERA with the Houston Astros in his Cy Young Award-winning season of 2015.

But he has tailed off quite a bit over the last few years while struggling to stick with multiple teams.

The Brewers needed to add some starting pitching depth as they deal with numerous injuries to their pitching staff. Milwaukee leads the NL Central despite getting just 375 1/3 total innings from its starting pitchers through Monday to rank next-to-last in the majors, ahead of only San Francisco’s 371 2/3 innings.

Milwaukee traded 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles before the season and knew going into the year that two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff wouldn’t pitch at all in 2024 while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Wade Miley and Robert Gasser have undergone Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Other Brewers pitchers on the injured list include Joe Ross (lower back), Jakob Junis (right shoulder), DL Hall (left knee), Taylor Clarke (toe), JB Bukauskas (right lat) and two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams (back).

In other moves Tuesday, the Brewers transferred Gasser to the 60-day injured list, selected right-hander Joel Kuhnel from Class AAA Nashville and optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez to Nashville.

A 35-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged with arson following a spree where 15 fires were set in one morning, including to occupied residences and garbage bins near structures.

Breonteze S. Little was charged Monday by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

Several residents were displaced or have to consider moving due to the fires. No one was injured in the fires, but one firefighter suffered minor injuries fighting a blaze.

Little was charged with one count of arson and bail jumping, both felonies. The charge stems from a fire in the 4500 block of West Lisbon Avenue. Police said the other fires are still under investigation.

According to a criminal complaint:

New owners took over the former Ralph’s Coffee Bar at 4538 W. Lisbon Ave. in April and had been working on renovations. Shortly after 7:30 a.m. on June 18, one of the owners spotted a fire from paper towels burning in the foyer entrance beneath the mail slot. He said the fire was just beginning to catch the carpet underneath it.

Contractors for the renovations put out the fire and a fire scene examination was conducted by Milwaukee police. The detective said the mail slot exhibited signs of fire-related damages with sections of the carpeting being melted or charred.

The detective determined the fire was set intentionally by igniting paper towels soaked in combustibles and dropping it in the mail slot.

Police gathered surveillance footage from the surrounding neighborhood and used facial recognition software to identify Little.

Police said Little went to District Three police station earlier that morning to report a child custody issue involving his child’s mother and was wearing the same clothes.

Little has multiple prior felony convictions and was currently out on $1,000 bail after being charged earlier this year with possession of a firearm as a felon. He showed up to a hearing at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on Thursday and was arrested on suspicion of arson.

In the morning of June 18, the Milwaukee Fire Department put out 15 fires in the area of North 49th Street and West Lisbon Avenue, then later near North Ninth and West Hadley streets.

Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said at a press conference that four houses were burned, two of which were occupied.

One resident, Mary Spadafora, told the Journal Sentinel that she’d likely sell her home. “If it’s salvageable, I’ll try and fix it, but I’m probably going to sell it,” she said. “I probably don’t feel comfortable living here anymore.” Spadafora recently finished repairing the home following a fire last year.

Prosecutors said Little set fires to dwellings and garbage bins near structures or in alleys. In most cases, he was captured on video wearing the same clothing, prosecutors said. He does not yet have a permanent attorney listed.

MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man has entered a guilty plea in connection with a homicide that occurred in Milwaukee in May 2023. Antonio Carr is accused of helping the person responsible for the north side homicide.

Carr was initially charged with harboring or aiding a felon and bail jumping (felony). Carr pleaded guilty to one count of harboring or aiding a felon on June 20. The charge of bail jumping was dismissed and read into the court record for the purposes of sentencing. 

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

Case details

According to the criminal complaint, a Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy responded to a freeway shooting the morning of May 3. It happened on the southbound Highway 145 on-ramp at Silver Spring Drive. Despite life-saving attempts, the victim ultimately died at the scene from three gunshot wounds.

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A detective later spoke to a person who said she was a passenger in the victim’s vehicle. This person stated, per the complaint, the victim driving when the “car in front of them stopped, the drive got out and began to shoot” into their vehicle. The person described the attacker’s “car” as a “blue/gray tall work van.”

Milwaukee homicide; Highway 145 at 76th Street off-ramp

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The victim’s vehicle was equipped with a video camera which showed the events leading up to the shooting. The complaint states the victim is heard saying: “Dude, drive you big (expletive) van. What are you doing fool? What is you doing?” A person then got out of the van and approached the victim’s car before four gunshots are heard.

Several hours later, a green van was located underneath a bridge near 35th Street and Arthur Avenue in Milwaukee. The bottom of a burned, red gasoline can was recovered from behind the front passenger seat under melted debris, and that the damage to the van was extensive.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office found surveillance video from the roadways near the homicide scene – and confirmed the burned van was the vehicle driven by the shooter, the complaint states.

Vehicle burned near 35th and Arthur, Milwaukee (May 3, 2023)

The complaint states a detective spoke to Carr, who admitted to “being at or near both the homicide and burnt van locations.” However, Carr said he went to the homicide scene “because he saw it on the news” and that he was near the van “because he was on the south side to ‘bust a move.’”

The detective found text messages between another individual and Carr in which he “sends that person a news story about the homicide and the text, ‘on my baby he killed him,’” the complaint states. The person then responded with advice about how to dispose of the van. A short time later, Carr texted, “Done.”