After being shutout for the fifth time in their last 14 games, the Milwaukee Brewers continue their desperate search for offense tonight versus the Minnesota Twins, who are now winners of 12 straight games.
Last night’s offensive adjustment for the Brewers was the move of Jackson Chourio to the sixth spot in the batting order, a move that didn’t work out: he was 0-for-4 and struck out every time up, a couple of which were especially ugly. Pat Murphy’s postgame comments suggested Chourio wasn’t thrilled with the move. Chourio is back in the two-hole for tonight’s contest, and the rest of the lineup is in line with what you’d expect, with Christian Yelich at DH and Jake Bauers again in left field.
If Milwaukee is going to break out of their slump today, they’ll need to do it against Minnesota’s nominal ace, Pablo López. He’s been quite good, and enters with an ERA of 2.77 and a FIP of 2.51. But his last outing (Sunday versus the Giants) was his worst of the season so far, when he allowed four earned runs in six innings.
Milwaukee will counter with Tobias Myers, whose demotion turned out to be a short one; he was optioned to Triple-A Nashville on Sunday and recalled on Wednesday when it became apparent that Jose Quintana needed an IL stint. Thus, Myers didn’t pitch with the Sounds, meaning his last outing was last Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay in which he allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in four innings.
While the offense will need to do something, the biggest advantage the Brewers might be able to gain against this Twins team is simply that they’re going to win any battle of attrition this week. After an outfield collision on Thursday ended with Carlos Correa on the seven-day concussion injured list and Byron Buxton out of the lineup on Friday, the Twins were down two of their best players in one play. They’re also without outfielder Matt Wallner (who has been on the injured list since mid-April) and Harrison Bader hasn’t played since Wednesday, though he is back in the lineup tonight. Yesterday’s game saw yet another injury, when Willi Castro left early after fouling a ball off his knee. Buxton and Castro could conceivably return in this series, but they’re out of the lineup tonight.
If nothing else, the Twins are due for a loss, right? Tonight also—hopefully—marks the last time we have extended in-game discussions of cribbage boards, so we’ve got that going for us.
First pitch in this one is at 6:15 p.m. and note that the game is on Fox, not the usual FanDuel Sports Network. And, as always, you can find it on the Brewers Radio Network.