PROGRAMMING NOTE: If you're looking for something to do while waiting for tonight's game, Kyle will be appearing on The Sports Den with Downtown Ollie Burrows on SportsFan 100.5 in Wausau at 6:30. Follow that link to listen live. - KL
The Brewers are 13-12 with two games to play in the month of August, meaning they have two chances to secure their first winning month since April.
They'll get their first shot at it tonight at 7:10 when they send Wily Peralta (4.51 ERA, 4.25 FIP) to the mound to take on the Angels. Peralta pitched five innings against the Reds on Saturday and allowed a single run on seven hits, walking one and striking out two. He needed 103 pitches to record 15 outs in that game.
As is frequently the case with young pitchers, Peralta's outings have been all-or-nothing much of the time this season. He has a 1.80 ERA and is averaging almost seven innings per start in his eight wins, but has a 7.77 ERA and has averaged just less than five innings in his 13 losses. His fastball sits in the mid-90's and he'll throw it about two thirds of the time while largely filling in the gaps with his slider and an occasional curve.
Peralta has, of course, never faced the Angels.
He'll face 30-year-old righty Jered Weaver (3.46 ERA, 3.76 FIP), who I thought was much younger for some reason. Weaver is in his eighth major league season and last pitched on Sunday, when he held the Mariners to a single run on three hits over eight innings. The only run in that game scored on a homer, and he's allowed at least one long ball in each of his five starts in August.
Weaver missed most of April and May this year with a broken elbow, ending an impressive streak of durability. He made at least 30 starts in every season from 2008-2012, amassing 1036.1 innings with a 3.21 ERA. His velocity is way down this season, sitting at 86.6 mph after being up around 90 for a long time.
Weaver has pitched in 226 games in his MLB career but this is the first time he's ever faced the Brewers. The only current Brewer who has faced him ten times or more is Yuniesky Betancourt, who is hitting .277/.320/.426 in 50 (!) plate appearances.
Tonight's Brewer lineup is as follows:
Norichika Aoki RF
Jean Segura SS
Jonathan Lucroy 1B
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Carlos Gomez CF
Khris Davis LF
Scooter Gennett 2B
Martin Maldonado C
Wily Peralta P
And in the bullpen:
- Brandon Kintzler pitched two innings (18 pitches) last night.
- Michael Gonzalez pitched .2 innings (12 pitches) on Wednesday.
- Burke Badenhop pitched .1 innings (eleven pitches) on Wednesday.
- Tyler Thornburg pitched .2 innings (two pitches) on Wednesday.
- Rob Wooten and Jim Henderson last pitched on Tuesday.
- Alfredo Figaro pitched five innings for AAA Nashville on Wednesday.
It was hot and rainy in Milwaukee during the afternoon today, but expect it to cool off and calm down by game time. We're looking at a game time temperature around 79 under cloudy skies with winds blowing from left to right.