The Brewers wrap up their pre-All Star schedule with another trip out west to mess with your sleep cycle.
At 8:40 tonight the Brewers will face lefty Wade Miley (4.06 ERA, 4.35 FIP) and the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Miley, the former #43 overall pick in the 2008 draft, is in his third major league season as a 26-year-old. He was excellent against the Rockies on Saturday, allowing a single run on five hits over eight innings. He did allow a solo home run in that game, though, and has given up six long balls in his last six outings.
Tonight's game is the 32nd time the Brewers have faced a lefty starter this season, and that's actually been a bit of a drag on their offense to this point. They're posting a .251/.296/.393 batting line against lefty starting pitching this season, as opposed to a .262/.322/.411 line against right-handers. Miley throws a low-90's fastball over 70% of the time and will mix in a slider and changeup.
Miley beat the Brewers back on April 5, holding them to a single run on five hits over six innings and striking out eight, which is still his season high. The only current Brewer who has faced him ten times or more is Norichika Aoki, who is hitting .300/.300/.600 in ten plate appearances.
He'll face Yovani Gallardo (4.85 ERA, 4.11 FIP), who may be auditioning for a job with the Diamondbacks and several other teams. Gallardo is scuffling lately, and gave up four runs on six hits over six innings against the Mets his last time out. After going 21 innings without allowing an earned run, he has a 10.38 ERA over his last three starts.
Last year Gallardo pitched almost exclusively to Martin Maldonado after the young catcher was called up midseason, and posted a 3.31 ERA when they were paired together. This year Maldonado has only caught him three times, though, and Gallardo has a 6.46 ERA in those games. He's significantly better lately (4.58 ERA over 17 starts) when pitching to Jonathan Lucroy.
Gallardo faced the Diamondbacks on April 7 and received a no-decision, allowing four runs on nine hits over six innings. Five current Diamondbacks have faced him ten times or more:
Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
Martin Prado | 22 | .143 | .182 | .190 | .372 |
Miguel Montero | 20 | .176 | .250 | .235 | .485 |
Gerardo Parra | 19 | .167 | .211 | .167 | .377 |
Jason Kubel | 16 | .462 | .563 | .769 | 1.332 |
Aaron Hill | 13 | .250 | .308 | .250 | .558 |
As of this writing (12:03 am, so not exactly surprising), tonight's lineup has not been posted. If you've seen it, please drop it in the comments.
And in the bullpen:
- Donovan Hand pitched two innings (35 pitches) yesterday.
- Brandon Kintzler pitched one inning (13 pitches) yesterday.
- Burke Badenhop pitched one inning (12 pitches) yesterday.
- Michael Gonzalez pitched .2 innings (nine pitches) yesterday.
- Jim Henderson, Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford last pitched on Monday.
- Tyler Thornburg last pitched on Friday.
Today is projected to be the coolest day of the Arizona trip, with a high temperature around 101. Expect the roof to stay closed and the air conditioning to stay on for each of the next four days.