Game Thread #135: Milwaukee Brewers (83-51) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (65-69)

The Brewers won the first two games of this four-game set with the Diamondbacks. But last night, the Milwaukee offense was unable to muster the big hit they needed late in the game, and they dropped a close one, 3-2. This afternoon, they’ll get another chance to pick up a series victory when they send the crafty veteran Jose Quintana to the mound. He’ll face off against the 30-year-old Nabil Crismatt, who is making just his third appearance (and second start) of the season.

Quintana just keeps outperforming his stuff. In 20 starts this season, he’s got a 3.32 ERA (124 ERA+) despite a 4.78 FIP. He is walking more batters than he typically has in his career—likely because he’s nibbling a lot, due to the lack of “stuff”—and he’s striking out fewer than he ever has in his 14-year career, barring his rookie season. But he’s shown a propensity for getting out of jams and he’s let his defense back him up, and that’s led to a 10-4 record (the sixth 10-win season in Quintana’s career) and, as of this moment, the third-best season of his good, long career by the measure of ERA+.

In the bullpen, the Brewers are of course without Trevor Megill, but presumably have Abner Uribe, Shelby Miller, and Jared Koenig available after none of them pitched in last night’s loss. Rob Zastryzny is also apparently with the team after completing a rehab assignment, but he hasn’t yet been activated.

Crismatt is in his sixth year as a big leaguer but he hasn’t pitched regularly in the big leagues since 2022, when he was an effective reliever in San Diego. Since getting off to a very rough start in 2023, Crismatt has continued his tour of the National League West, with two separate stints in Arizona and another with the Dodgers. But he’s spent most of that time in the minor leagues, and has appeared in only 15 big-league games across the last three seasons. He’s been effective in his very small sample in 2025: he’s pitched twice, most recently with four scoreless relief innings on August 23rd against the Reds (a game in which he earned the victory, though he did allow seven baserunners in those four innings). His first outing was a start in which he went five innings and allowed just one run on three hits, but Arizona lost that game when the bullpen let things get away.

As for the Brewer lineup, there’s a new wrinkle: Brice Turang is batting cleanup, and Curt Hogg tells us that it’s the first time he’s done so in either the major or minor leagues. (Another little update from Hogg says that Joey Ortiz is running at 100%, and should be able to rejoin the team on Monday after a minimum stint on the 10-day injured list.) Sal Frelick returns to the leadoff spot this afternoon with Turang batting fourth, and Christian Yelich has the day off.

First pitch this afternoon is at 1:10 p.m. central on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and, for out-of-market viewers, on MLB Network. Radio listeners will find it in the usual spot.