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Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Lohse) v. Diamondbacks (Miley)

You know what makes me feel better after a series loss? A series win.

By Kyle Lobner
USA TODAY Sports

The Brewers' season-opening homestand continues tonight with their first Friday night home game of 2013.

At approximately 7:10 tonight we'll see the first pitch of the Kyle Lohse (2.45 ERA this spring, 2.86/3.51 ERA/FIP in 2012) era, as he's expected to make his Brewer debut. This is only Lohse's second professional outing of the spring, as he signed late and made just one Cactus League appearance. He pitched 3.2 innings against the Rockies on March 28 and allowed a run on four hits, walking none and striking out two.

The Brewers haven't had a starting pitcher complete the sixth inning in 2012, and they'll be hard-pressed to get it tonight. Because of his short spring the Brewers are expected to limit Lohse to around 75 pitches. If they feel like that's his honest limit at this point, then he may not actually be fully stretched out until his third projected start on April 17.

Lohse faced the Diamondbacks twice last year and was effective both times, allowing just one run on eleven hits over a combined 11.2 innings with four walks and eight strikeouts. Five current D-Backs have faced him ten times or more:

Player PA AVG OBP SLG OPS
Eric Chavez 21 .333 .476 .800 1.276
Eric Hinske 21 .316 .381 .368 .749
Martin Prado 17 .353 .353 .353 .706
Miguel Montero 11 .273 .273 .545 .818
Gerardo Parra 11 .400 .455 .600 1.055

He'll face 26-year-old lefty Wade Miley (7.43 ERA this spring, 3.33/3.15 ERA/FIP in 2012), who probably should have been the NL Rookie of the Year a year ago but finished second to Bryce Harper. Miley made four starts this spring and last pitched on Saturday, when he faced the Reds and allowed four runs on nine hits over six innings with two walks and three strikeouts.

If you're seeing Miley for the first time, it might be safe to just watch for fastballs. He threw the ~90 mph pitch over 70% of the time a year ago, with the occasional slider and changeup mixed in. He was among the NL leaders when he allowed just 1.7 walks per nine innings a year ago.

The Brewers faced Miley twice last season and had some success against him, roughing him up to the tune of 13 runs (eleven earned) on 16 hits over 9.2 innings. On June 30 Ryan Braun took him deep twice. No current Brewers have faced him ten times or more, but the Brewers who have seen him are a combined 11-for-37 for a .333/.389/.727 line.

Here are tonight's lineups:

Order Diamondbacks Pos @ Brewers Pos
1 Gerardo Parra RF Norichika Aoki RF
2 Martin Prado 3B Rickie Weeks 2B
3 Aaron Hill 2B Ryan Braun LF
4 Miguel Montero C Aramis Ramirez 3B
5 Paul Goldschmidt 1B Jonathan Lucroy C
6 Jason Kubel LF Alex Gonzalez 1B
7 A.J. Pollock CF Carlos Gomez CF
8 Cliff Pennington SS Jean Segura SS
9 Wade Miley P Kyle Lohse P

And in the bullpen:

  • Mike Gonzalez pitched .1 innings (seven pitches) Wednesday, and also pitched on Tuesday.
  • Tom Gorzelanny pitched .1 innings (seven pitches) Wednesday, and also pitched on Tuesday.
  • Alfredo Figaro pitched 1.1 innings (26 pitches) Wednesday.
  • John Axford pitched .2 innings (18 pitches) Wednesday.
  • Jimmy Henderson pitched one inning (eleven pitches) Wednesday.
  • Burke Badenhop, Brandon Kintzler and Chris Narveson last pitched on Tuesday.

Oh, and by the way, it's cold again. Expect a game time temperature around 36 and a closed roof.

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