What We Learned: Junior Guerra leads Brewers to series win over Cubs

Yesterday's Results

Brewers 5, Cubs 3

Junior Guerra continued his strong start to his Brewers career with a fourth straight start pitching six or more innings. He did allow three runs, but the Brewers offense backed him up, led by Kirk Nieuwenhuis and his two-run home run to put the Brewers up for good.

Brewers News and Notes

Links from BCB

• Exploring the Milwaukee Brewers' Struggles in the "Clutch"
  Kyle Lesniewski, BCB
  Why can't the Brewers get a hit at critical times? The numbers suggest that the team overall struggles in clutch situations.

Links from Other Sites

• Santana, Braun scratched from Thursday's start
  Curt Hogg, Brewers.com
  Both Domingo Santana and Ryan Braun were out of the lineup yesterday with their lingering injuries.
• Jeffress' rare hiccup extends long night
  Adam McCalvy, Brewers.com
  Jeremy Jeffress suffered his first blown save of the season on Wednesday against the Cubs.
• Guerra, Crew rotation getting groove back
  Adam McCalvy, Brewers.com
  The starting rotation is doing better over the last few games after struggling for much of the season.
  
• Brewers' hitters trying to balance passive/aggressive approaches at plate
  Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
  The Brewers have been almost passive to a fault at the plate, but swinging at more pitches won't fix the problem either.
• Colin Walsh, Ramon Flores still trying to find their way
  Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
  Colin Walsh and Ramon Flores haven't produced as hoped at the plate, yet they are still getting opportunities to play with the team.
• Spring Madness (414) to Invade Miller Park
  Caitlin Moyer, Cait Covers the Bases
  During the Brewers next homestand, the yearly Spring Madness promotion will take place.

Minor League Update

News and Notes

• Phillips to DL Amidst Flurry of Moves
  Marcus Young, Miller Park Prospects
  Brett Phillips went on the DL with a hamstring injury for Biloxi, Michael Reed came off the DL at Colorado Springs, and Omar Garcia was promoted to Biloxi in a series of roster moves in the minors.
• Mock Draft Time: Blake Rutherford
  Jake Covey, Disciples of Uecker
  A profile on a possible draft choice for the Brewers.
• The Draft is Only a Tool in the Rebuilding Process
  Julien Assouline, BP Milwaukee
  As valuable as the draft is seen, it's not the only tool teams have to rebuild.

NL Central Update

Yesterday's Games

• Pirates 8, Braves 2
• Indians 7, Reds 2
• Cardinals 13, Rockies 7

This Weekend's Games

Rockies @ Pirates

• Friday: Eddie Buter vs. Gerrit Cole - 6:05 pm
• Saturday: Tyler Chatwood vs. Jon Niese - 3:05 pm
  
• Sunday: Chad Bettis vs. Juan Nicasio - 12:35 pm

Mariners @ Reds

• Friday: Hisashi Iwakuma vs. Dan Straily - 6:10 pm
• Saturday: Felix Hernandez vs. John Lamb - 3:10 pm
  
• Sunday: Wade Miley vs. Alfredo Simon - 12:10 pm

Diamondbacks @ Cardinals

• Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Carlos Martinez - 7:15 pm
• Saturday: Robbie Ray vs. Mike Leake - 3:05 pm
  
• Sunday: Zack Greinke vs. Jaime Garcia - 1:15 pm

Cubs @ Giants

• Friday: Jake Arrieta vs. Jake Peavy - 9:15 pm
• Saturday: Jon Lester vs. Matt Cain - 6:15 pm
  
• Sunday: Kyle Hendricks vs. Madison Bumgarner - 7:05 pm

Around Baseball

Roster News

Atlanta Braves

• Shortstop Erick Aybar was scratched from yesterday's game with a chicken bone stuck in his throat

Minnesota Twins

• Optioned outfielder Eddie Rosario to Triple-A
• Selected the contract of outfielder Robbie Grossman

Texas Ranges

• Optioned LHP Andrew Faulkner to Triple-A
• Will activate outfielder Shin-Soo Choo from the disabled list

Other Notes

• A Definitive Guide To Baseball’s Pizza Discounts
  Ben Lindberg and Rob Arthur, FiveThirtyEight
  The Brewers have one of the better pizza discounts in baseball.
• 2016 Broadcaster Rankings (TV): #10 – #1
  Carson Cistulli, FanGraphs
  In the crowdsourced rankings of TV broadcasters, the Brewers broadcast team came in at #6 out of all of the broadcast teams.
• Report: Rangers to announce plans for new retractable-roof stadium
  Israel Fahr, Big League Stew
  The Texas Rangers are considering plans for a new ballpark with a retractable roof to help combat their attendance problems.

This Weekend's Action

Brewers @ Mets

• Friday: Wily Peralta vs. Steven Matz - 6:10 pm
• Saturday: Zach Davies vs. Jacob deGrom - 3:10 pm
• Sunday: Chase Anderson vs. Noah Syndergaard - 12:10 pm