Today's Match-Up: Milwaukee (Fiers) at St. Louis (Westbrook)

Jake Westbrook (13-10, 3.93) is in the midst of arguably the best season of his 12-year career. His ERA is second best to his 3.38 ERA in 2004 if we don't count his 2008 campaign when he started just five games. His 5.52 K/9 is his third highest ever while his 2.55 BB/9 is his third lowest ever. Westbrook has never had a better FIP than his current 3.79.

Westbrook had been on a great streak recently. From June 20 to August 17, he made 11 starts and had a 2.71 ERA. His next two starts did not go quite as well, however. Against the Astros on Aug. 23, he allowed five earned runs in five innings. Then, against the Pirates on Aug. 28, he gave up seven earned in five innings. In his latest start, Westbrook bounced back a little and only gave up two runs to the Nationals. However, for the third consecutive start he failed to go even six innings.

Westbrook has been very consistent in his home/road splits. In St. Louis, he has a 3.96 ERA and .723 opponent OPS. On the road, he has a 3.89 ERA and .727 opponent OPS. He pitches much better against right handers. Righties have OPS'd .651 against Westbrook while left handers have a .783 OPS.

Westbrook is primarily a two-pitch pitcher. He throws a 90 MPH sinker 59% of the time and an 86 MPH slider 19% of the time. He has faced five Brewers hitters at least ten times. Here is how they have fared:

For the Brewers, Mike Fiers (8-7, 3.11) will be making the start. After posting a 1.80 ERA in his first 13 appearances, Fiers has struggled some over his last five starts. Thanks to an eight ER outing and two 4 ER outings, his ERA over those five starts stands at 7.40. His last start he went just 3.1 innings as he seemingly could not get an out in the fourth inning after the first batter flew out. He gave up three straight singles, an error, a walk, and two more singles prior to being pulled from the game. Fiers also committed two errors in that short outing. Fiers' peripheral stats are still phenomenal and he's still likely a front-runner for a rotation spot next season. He can't let this bad stretch continue, though.

The lineups were not out at the time of this writing. Feel free to post them in the comments if you have seen them.

In the bullpen:

Brandon Kintzler pitched 1.1 innings (22 pitches) Thursday and 1 inning (17 pitches) yesterday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (18 pitches) yesterday.
Jim Henderson pitched one inning (21 pitches) yesterday.
Manny Parra pitched one inning (13 pitches) yesterday.
Jose Veras pitched one inning (17 pitches) yesterday.
Kameron Loe pitched one inning (27 pitches) yesterday.
John Axford pitched one inning (21 pitches) yesterday.
Livan Hernandez pitched one inning (14 pitches) Thursday.
Josh Stinson pitched .1 innings (3 pitches) yesterday.
Tyler Thornburg last pitched on Sunday for Nashville.