The Milwaukee Brewers, despite playing series against both the White Sox and Rockies already, have not managed to sweep a team all season. After close wins on Monday and Tuesday versus the Red Sox, they’ll have an opportunity to do that this afternoon in their getaway day matinee.
It would be nice to think that yesterday’s victory, in which they scored in the bottom of the ninth to tie it and then won on Christian Yelich’s walk-off grand slam, will prove to be a momentous inflection point in the story of this season. Maybe it will be: Yelich has been better lately, Joey Ortiz and Caleb Durbin are showing some positive signs, and the pitching rotation is healthier than it has been all season. A positive first step to getting back into the swing of things would be to win this game, that would put the Brewers back above .500 for the first time since May 6th.
To do so, the Brewers will turn to their rotation’s leader, Freddy Peralta, who will take on Boston’s Brayan Bello. Peralta did not have his best stuff in his last outing: he allowed just one earned run (and an additional unearned run) but it took him 101 pitches to get just 13 outs. It was representative of his last few outings: Peralta has remained relatively effective in terms of run prevention, but the improved efficiency he was showing early in the season has largely disappeared. We’ll see if he can reverse that trend.
Bello has had an up and down season, one that started late due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. He has made seven starts since first appearing on April 22nd, and while he got off to a solid start, he has faltered a bit lately; Bello hasn’t reached the fifth inning in any of his last four starts, and his ERA has climbed 2.07 runs since throwing 4 2⁄3 scoreless innings on May 8th.
Coming off his big night, Yelich will bat third this afternoon. Rhys Hoskins gets the day off, as Jake Bauers is in the lineup at first base (not left field, where Isaac Collins will start for the fourth straight game).
The Brewers will finally get an off day tomorrow, their first in two full weeks. It will be a needed break for the entire bullpen after that span that included not only 13 games in 13 days but two extra-inning contests. Milwaukee should have Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe available today, so they’re well-positioned if they have a late lead in a close game.
It’s an early one, with first pitch at 12:10 p.m. central time on FanDuel Sports Network, and for those of you out of market, it’ll also be on MLB Network.