Series Preview: Milwaukee Brewers vs Miami Marlins

After losing two of three to both the Atlanta Braves and the lowly Cincinnati Reds on the road in the past week, the Brewers will look to close out the road trip with some wins in Miami against the Marlins.

After sitting with a 18-8 record just a week ago, the Brewers are now 20-12, but they still hold a 2.5 game lead over the second place Cardinals, who lost two of three to the Orioles this week.

The Crew will take on the Miami Marlins, who sit at 14-17 on the season. The Marlins have struggled in recent weeks, losing five of six to the Diamondbacks across two series and losing three of four to the Padres.

Let’s take a look at how these two teams will match up this weekend.

Lineups

After facing plenty of criticism early in the season for their lack of offensive, the Brewers have silenced most of those critics as they now sit in second in the league in runs scored with 159 on the year, just five runs behind the Angels. They also have a +29 run differential, good enough for eighth in the league.

They’ve been aided by a solid all-around attack led by Willy Adames, Hunter Renfroe, Rowdy Tellez and Christian Yelich. Adames and Tellez each won an NL Player of the Week Award in the past two weeks, and Yelich has probably had the hottest bat of all, slashing .348/.455/.739 over his last 12 games, including four homers and 12 RBIs. Meanwhile Renfroe has found his power stroke, hitting six homers in his last 11 games.

For the Marlins, they’ve mostly been carried by early-season MVP candidate Jazz Chisholm. He’s slashing .295/.337/.611 for the Marlins, including six homers, 24 RBIs, 28 hits and six stolen bases, all of which lead the team. The Marlins also have Jorge Soler, who was signed after a solid year with the Braves, but he’s slashed just .178/.271/.347 so far. He does have five homers, which is second on the team.

Besides Chisholm and Soler, the Marlins also have Jesus Sanchez, Garrett Cooper, Joey Wendle, and former Brewers Avisail Garcia and Jesus Aguilar, all of whom are threats at the plate. Aguilar has been especially hot lately, slashing .348/.375/.543 over his last 12 games, including two homers and nine RBIs.

Probable Pitchers

Game 1 Friday, 5:40 CT: Corbin Burnes vs Pablo López

Coming off a 14-11 loss that featured a Christian Yelich cycle, the Brewers will send Corbin Burnes to the mound, where he’ll look to get more run support than he has the last few times out.

Despite giving up just four runs, only three of which were earned, over his past three starts, the Brewers have lost all three games, with Burnes taking the loss in each of the last two. He lowered his ERA from 2.37 to 1.86 in that time, but he now sits with a 1-2 record on the season and the Brewers are just 2-4 in games Burnes has started.

The Marlins’ counterpart might not help for the Crew’s offense, as Pablo López has been one of the best starters in the majors so far this season. He’s given up just four earned runs this season, three of which came in his lone loss to the Diamondbacks on May 2. He’s struck out 35 across 36 innings, compared to just eight walks.

Game 2 Saturday, 5:10 CT: Eric Lauer vs Trevor Rogers

Lauer has been one of the top Brewers starters so far this year, as he sits with a perfect 3-0 record and a 1.82 ERA on the season. In five starts this season, Lauer has racked up 42 strikeouts as opposed to just eight walks across 29.2 innings. He’s also only gotten better as the season has gone on, striking out 32 over his last three starts and giving up just two earned runs in that time.

On the other side, the Marlins will send out Trevor Rogers. Rogers, who finished in second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and was an All-Star in 2021, has struggled so far this season. He sits with a 5.00 ERA over six starts, and his lack of strikeouts and high number of walks are a major reason. After striking out 157 and walking just 46 over 133 innings last year, he’s struck out only 21 and walked 13 over 27 innings this season.

Game 3 Sunday, 12:40 CT: Brandon Woodruff vs Elieser Hernandez

Woodruff has struggled so far this season, sitting with a 5.97 ERA over six starts. HE’s really been hampered by the big inning this year, as he’s given up three-plus runs in an inning four times this year, including five runs in the fifth inning his last time out. If Woodruff can avoid the big inning, he can hopefully be successful for the Crew, as he’s gotten plenty of run support this year.

For the Marlins, Elieser Hernandez will take the mound with a 6.37 ERA on the year. Hernandez, who started 11 games for the Marlins last year, will make his seventh start of 2022. He’s given up at least one run in all six of his starts, and he’s given up three or more runs in all but one start. The Brewers will look to jump on him early as they close out the series Sunday afternoon.