The Milwaukee Brewers will be looking to secure a series win over the Cleveland Guardians tonight after a win in last night’s pitchers’ duel.
Some pregame notes from Pat Murphy include a positive report on Brandon Woodruff’s rehab start last night for High-A Wisconsin, in which Woodruff was sitting 90-92 mph. He’s expected to rejoin the big league rotation soon and not need another rehab start. Also, there’s no update yet on the decision on Quinn Priester following his appointment with his thoracic outlet specialist, but news should be coming soon.
Meanwhile, for the Brewers’ current rotation, it’s Brandon Sproat’s turn tonight. Sproat is coming off one of his strongest outings yet, despite pitching in the bandbox that was Las Vegas. Sproat went six strong innings, allowing just one run over six innings on 68 pitches. He was efficient and largely kept the ball in that tiny ballpark. He’ll be looking to repeat that strong performance against a fairly weak Guardians lineup that is missing a couple of its best hitters, including José Ramírez.
However, the Guardians will be throwing one of the better starters in the American League tonight with Gavin Williams. The East Carolina product has a 3.32 ERA on the season with a 9-3 record. Williams is tied for the fifth-most strikeouts in baseball this year and ranks in the top 10 in the AL in opponent batting average.
The Brewers’ lineup tasked with going against Williams will include the standard top four in the order with Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras. Jake Bauers gets the start at first base, meaning Andrew Vaughn is on the bench once again. Sal Frelick is in right field, Garrett Mitchell is in center. Cooper Pratt, seeking his first major league hit, is batting eighth for the second consecutive night, with David Hamilton rounding out the bottom of the order.
The Guardians still have a pretty strong 1-2 punch atop their order with Travis Bazzana and Kyle Manzardo. Old Friend Rhys Hoskins is batting cleanup and is the designated hitter. Another old friend, David Fry, traded as a minor leaguer for JC Mejia a few years ago, is batting sixth and playing right field.
The Brewers have already set a franchise record for most wins through 70 games with 44 of them. In their 71st game, can they add to their win total? First pitch is at 6:40 p.m.
