Tate Kuehner

NASHVILLE — The Milwaukee Brewers are one step away for Marshalltown native Tate Kuehner.

Kuehner, a 2019 Marshalltown High School graduate, was promoted to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds and was the starting pitcher in Wednesday night’s International League game against the Durham Bulls in Durham, N.C.

He was a hard-luck loser in his Triple-A debut, allowing just one run over 5 1/3 innings of a 2-1 loss to Durham. Kuehner surrendered a solo home run to Bob Seymour in the bottom of the sixth and was removed.

Kuehner finished with one walk, one wild pitch and four strikeouts, scattering six hits in the loss. He threw 57 of 87 pitches for strikes.

A left-handed pitcher, Kuehner was a seventh-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2023 out of Louisville. A little more than two years later, Kuehner is on the verge of the big leagues.

The former Bobcat spent the last year with the Biloxi Shuckers, the Brewers’ Double-A affiliate in Biloxi, Miss. After 136 1/3 innings at that level, Kuehner got the call to climb another rung closer to Major League Baseball.

This season in Biloxi, Kuehner has a 2.50 earned run average in 100 2/3 innings, striking out 112 batters while going 7-5 on the mound. Opposing hitters are batting just .224 against him.