Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Peralta) v Reds (Cingrani)

We could be looking at the future of a pair of franchises tonight.

For the Brewers, Wily Peralta (5.27 ERA, 4.49 FIP) takes the mound for the 19th time. His up-and-down season took an upturn last time out, when he shut Washington out on three hits for 5.1 innings, walking two and striking out five. He left that game early with a hamstring strain, which is why he's pitching tonight on seven days' rest.

Unfortunately, Peralta is on an "every other" trend right now that doesn't bode well for tonight's start. He was very good in his 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th starts of the season (5 ER over 25.1 IP for a 1.78 ERA) but struggled in his 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th (14 ER over 20.1 innings for a 6.20 mark). Not surprisingly, the Brewers are 3-1 in the even games listed above but 0-4 in the odds.

This is Peralta's third start against the Reds this season, and he's allowed a combined nine runs (seven earned) over 11.1 innings in the other two, both Brewer losses. He's issued four walks and struck out just five Cincinnati batters over that time. No current Reds have faced him ten times or more.

He'll face 24-year-old lefty Tony Cingrani (3.40 ERA, 4.24 FIP), making the 14th appearance and ninth start of his rookie campaign. Cingrani last started against the Giants on Wednesday, allowing two runs on four hits over 5.2 innings with four walks and five strikeouts. Before that, he spent most of the month of June as a reliever.

Control has been an issue for Cingrani lately, so it'll be interesting to see if the Brewers take advantage of that tonight. He walked just eleven batters in his first 43.1 innings this season, but has walked ten in his last 9.2. He'll throw a low-90's fastball over 80% of the time with an occasional curve and changeup.

Cingrani pitched four innings against the Brewers on May 10, allowing two runs on five hits over four innings. No current Brewers have faced him ten times or more.

Tonight's starting lineup features Ryan Braun for the first time in a month:

Norichika Aoki RF
Jean Segura SS
Ryan Braun LF
Carlos Gomez CF
Rickie Weeks 2B
Sean Halton 1B
Martin Maldonado C
Yuniesky Betancourt 3B
Wily Peralta P

And in the bullpen:

• John Axford pitched .1 innings (12 pitches) last night, and also pitched on Sunday.
• Jim Henderson pitched one inning (22 pitches) last night.
• Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (21 pitches) last night.
• Brandon Kintzler pitched 1.1 innings (20 pitches) on Sunday.
• Michael Gonzalez pitched .2 innings (13 pitches) on Sunday.
• Tyler Thornburg and Burke Badenhop last pitched on Friday.

It's humid in Milwaukee tonight, but expect a game time temperature in the mid 70's under cloudy skies and an open roof.