The Milwaukee Brewers hope right-hander Tobias Myers regains last season’s form when they host the New York Mets on Saturday night.
Myers (1-1, 4.30 ERA) was recalled Friday from Triple-A Nashville when scheduled rookie starter Logan Henderson went on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. The Mets have not named a starter for Saturday’s game.
The Brewers rallied to win the series opener 3-2 on Friday night. The Mets had the tying run thrown out at home to end the game for their fifth consecutive loss. Starling Marte doubled with two outs off closer Trevor Megill. Jeff McNeil followed with a single, but Marte was out on a perfect one-hop throw from center fielder Blake Perkins.
Brice Turang had a two-run homer, and the Brewers capitalized on two errors for all of their runs in the fifth inning. Brandon Woodruff threw seven dominant innings after giving up solo homers in each of the first two frames, allowing just one hit the rest of the way.
With their seventh straight win, the Brewers moved to a season-high 27 games above .500 at 71-44, the best record in the majors, and a five-game lead in the National League Central over the Cubs, who lost at St. Louis 5-0 on Friday. The Brewers are 15-4 since the All-Star break.
“I don’t look at the numbers and whatnot, but we just come in here and want to win,” Woodruff said afterward. “We’re playing good baseball, and we’re doing all the little things right. It’s fun to come to the yard every day when your team’s got a great chance to win a ballgame.”
The Mets, who have dropped nine of 10 games following a seven-game winning streak, have just 10 hits over their last three games.
“We haven’t been hitting the last few games, but this is a team that continues to work hard and has a great amount of talent,” Marte said afterward through an interpreter. “We’re hitting a low point in the season, but I know that I’m confident that this team’s going to be able to turn it around because we work hard, we give 100 percent day in and day out.”
“Right now, it’s not going the way that we want it to, but eventually it’s going to turn and turn quickly.”
Myers, 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA last season as a rookie, has struggled to regain that form after opening the season on the injured list, bouncing back and forth between the Brewers and Nashville.
After he made three starts with Milwaukee in May, Myers’ last two appearances with the Brewers in late July were out of the bullpen, where he allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings.
Myers was 2-5 with a 3.77 ERA in 12 starts at Nashville this season. He has one career appearance against the Mets, earning the win last September after throwing four scoreless innings and giving up only one hit.
Henderson, meanwhile, has a flexor strain but “shouldn’t be out too long,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Wednesday’s game. Henderson was 3-0 in four starts with Milwaukee before being sent down in late May.
He was called up Sunday to start in place of hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who went on the 15-day IL with a bruised shin. Henderson allowed one run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings but did not get the decision in a 14-3 win over the Nationals.
—Field Level Media
