After roaring into the All-Star break as the hottest team in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers will be put to the test when the schedule resumes Friday.
The Brewers return on a seven-game winning streak, earning three of those victories in a home sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now comes another three-game test starting Friday against the World Series champions, this time at Los Angeles.
“Nothing gets easier,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, with his club one game behind the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs. “We’ve got to keep that edge. That’s why I don’t look back and why I can’t get happy, can’t put my feet up.”
Only the Boston Red Sox entered the break with a longer winning streak at 10 games.
Adding to the challenge is that outfielder Sal Frelick is doubtful for at least Friday’s game with a left hamstring strain. The Brewers’ leading hitter, with a .294 batting average, was injured early in Sunday’s game against the Washington Nationals and departed.
“We recommended he come out of the game,” Murphy said. “He wouldn’t have taken himself out.”
Milwaukee will send right-hander Quinn Priester to the mound Friday. Priester (7-2, 3.55 ERA) did not face the Dodgers at home last week, closing his pre-break assignments last Friday when he gave up two runs on four hits over six innings in an 8-3 victory over the Washington Nationals.
Priester is 6-0 with a 2.70 ERA over his last nine starts as he gets set to face the Dodgers for the first time in his career.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he was prepared to resume his team’s schedule with right-hander Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 3.52) on the mound. After missing 2 1/2 months with shoulder inflammation, Glasnow returned July 9 at Milwaukee and gave up just one earned run over five innings on 85 pitches.
“Just kind of going out and pitching, just toeing the mound and kind of getting into that rhythm and keeping the routine,” said Glasnow, who has been injury prone throughout his career and was working on mechanical changes when his shoulder issue surfaced. “Just going out, be athletic and trust the trainers, strength room, stay healthy and just keep pitching.”
In eight career appearances against the Brewers (four starts), Glasnow is 0-2 with a 5.26 ERA.
When the Dodgers were swept at Milwaukee last week, it was part of a larger seven-game skid, the club’s longest since 2017. That ended when they went into the break with consecutive victories.
Despite All-Star seasons from Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, a lack of offense has been the issue of late. The club had a bit of a revival after scoring 14 runs during a series victory at San Francisco last weekend.
Freeman is batting .203 with a .549 OPS, one home run and 11 RBIs in 37 games since the start of June.
Since making his return as a pitcher on June 16, Ohtani is batting .209 with an .846 OPS that is below his .988 season mark. But he does have seven home runs and 19 RBIs in the 25-game stretch.
“First place in the division with a pretty good lead and we played really good baseball,” Freeman said. “It could’ve been a little bit better if we didn’t lose seven in a row. But I think we’re pretty happy with how everything went.”
–Field Level Media
