Pat Murphy held his NLDS off-day press conference at 2 p.m. CT today, and he had a few pieces of news in preparation for Game 2 tomorrow.
First, he officially named Aaron Ashby as the Game 2 opener for the Brewers. Ashby pitched 1 1/3 innings in Game 1 yesterday, but he has seen regular usage, and this would not be much different for him. In the regular season, he’s pitched as many as 3 1/3 innings on one day of rest. This season, he’s had two appearances against the Cubs where he threw three-plus innings:
While that doesn’t mean he will throw three-plus innings in this game, it shows how far he could go as the opener. He has only served as the opener once this season, and that was a two-inning start against the Diamondbacks on August 27. That was essentially a bullpen game, with Erick Fedde making his first appearance as a Brewer that day.
Murphy didn’t mention any plans for after Ashby. If the Brewers want to use Quinn Priester twice in this series, they would need to use him in this game. That would allow him to make a normal “start” and then keep him available for Game 5 if necessary. After that, the Brewers have several options in the bullpen that could cover multiple innings if needed.
(EDIT: In his press conference, Murphy did bring up Priester’s name when talking about Game 2 and the pitching plan. He balked at giving any type of specific plan, but did mention bringing Priester in at some point in the game.)
As for the Cubs, they officially named Shota Imanaga as the Game 2 starter. Imanaga started Game 2 of the Wild Card series and allowed two runs in four innings. This will be his fourth start against the Brewers this season. Here are his previous starts:
The other big piece of news was the status of Jackson Chourio. However, it’s more of a lack of news right now. The MRI on his hamstring came back inconclusive. He will run some tests today to see if it is bothering him or not. If he’s still feeling some effects from it, then he will be shut down. We likely won’t know more until closer to tomorrow’s game.
Looking back at Chourio’s original injury, he was injured on July 29, and his first appearance in a minor-league game for rehab was August 22. That does keep open the possibility of returning later if he does need to miss time.