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The Brewers are coming off another (ugh) loss. They'll face a familiar pitcher in the Pirates' lefthander Francisco Liriano (1.69/0.77 ERA/FIP) in his second start since coming off the DL. (He broke his arm over the winter.) He threw 5.1 innings and 90 pitches in that start against the Mets, as well as striking out 9 and walking 2. In his rehab at AAA Indianapolis, he had a FIP of 1.51 over three starts, striking out 23 batters and walking 1. If Liriano is finally starting to live up to his potential, things could become awfully interesting in the NL Central this season.
This is Liriano's first season in the NL but the Brewers have faced him plenty of times in interleague play over the past 6 seasons. 4 Brewers have faced Liriano 10 times or more:
| Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuniesky Betancourt | 28 | .259 | .286 | .370 | .656 | |
| Rickie Weeks | 18 | .273 | .444 | .273 | .717 | |
| Ryan Braun | 14 | .300 | .500 | .600 | 1.100 | |
| Carlos Gomez | 10 | .625 | .700 | 1.500 | 2.200 |
Hiram Burgos (6.86/5.35 ERA/FIP) has already faced the Pirates once in his brief, four-start major league career. I assume this is the only time any of the Pirates have faced him as none were playing for Bradenton when he was with Brevard County. Burgos has inflated numbers due to having to take one for the team against Cincinnati on Saturday. One hates to cherry-pick out starts but he just didn't have it. His previous start against Pittsburgh was much better but now they've seen him before.
Lineups!
Brewers
Norichika Aoki RF
Jean Segura SS
Ryan Braun LF
Jonathan Lucroy C
Carlos Gomez CF
Yuniesky Betancourt 3B
Rickie Weeks 2B
Alex Gonzalez 1B
Hiram Burgos P
Pirates
Starling Marte LF
Travis Snider RF
Andrew McCutchen CF
Garrett Jones 1B
Neil Walker 2B
Russell Martin C
Pedro Alvarez 3B
Clint Barmes SS
Francisco Liriano P
Your potential bullpen entertainment:
Michael Gonzalez faced 1 batter last night (3 pitches) and pitched 0.1 inning Tuesday (6 pitches.)
John Axford pitched 0.1 inning last night (5 pitches) and 1 inning Tuesday (21 pitches.)
Burke Badenhop pitched 1.2 innings last night (28 pitches) and 0.1 inning Tuesday (5 pitches.)
Mike Fiers faced 1 batter Tuesday (6 pitches) and pitched 2 innings Monday (27 pitches.)
Jim Henderson pitched 1 inning Tuesday (11 pitches) and 1 inning Monday (8 pitches.)
Brandon Kintzler pitched 0.2 inning Tuesday (8 pitches) and 1 inning Monday (9 pitches.)
Alfredo Figaro pitched 2 innings (29 pitches) Tuesday.
I also hear that they brought someone up from Nashville. I think he may have pitched Tuesday. Whatever.