The visiting New York Yankees will turn to ace right-hander Cam Schlittler in a bid to even their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.
Schlittler (5-1, 1.52 ERA), who leads the American League in earned run average and is tied for the league lead in wins, will be opposed by left-hander Kyle Harrison (3-1, 2.12).
The Brewers took the series opener 6-0 on Friday behind a dominant start by hard-throwing Jacob Misiorowski, who allowed two hits over six scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. Milwaukee bunched four singles and a pair of walks for four runs in the second inning off starter Max Fried.
The Brewers snapped a five-game losing streak against New York with their first shutout of the Yankees since a 7-0 win on Sept. 2, 1992.
Highly touted prospect Spencer Jones, who had 11 homers and 41 RBIs in 33 games this season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, made his major league debut for New York, drawing a walk with two strikeouts. The first pitch Jones saw from Misiorowski was a 103.6 mph fastball.
“I didn’t know where the radar gun was, so I was looking for it, couldn’t find it,” Jones said. “I saw it after the fact. He’s got an electric fastball. I’ve never seen pitches that hard in my life. To be able to foul off a couple was pretty great. I’ll take that for now.”
Schlittler has allowed one run or fewer in six of his eight starts.
He picked up the victory in his last start, allowing one run on seven hits with three walks in 5 2/3 innings in a 12-1 win over Baltimore.
“The execution wasn’t there today,” Schlittler said. “Obviously, you could see the strikes were down. So, just got to make that adjustment going into next start.”
Schlittler has allowed just one home run to 181 batters faced this season.
Jose Caballero, who had both of the hits off Misiorowski, has reached base safely in 21 of his last 24 games. He is hitting .321 over that stretch with four homers, four doubles and nine RBIs.
Brewers left fielder Brandon Lockridge was taken off the field on a cart with a right knee laceration in the fourth inning Friday after sliding into the wall in foul territory.
“Initial X-rays say it’s not fractured, but he’s got a huge laceration,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It’s going to be a while.”
If Lockridge lands on the IL, Blake Perkins likely would be the replacement. Perkins was optioned to Triple-A Nashville after 19 games this season with Milwaukee.
Harrison, acquired in an offseason trade with Boston, has not allowed more than two runs in any of his six starts.
He allowed one run on seven hits in six innings in a 4-1 victory at Washington his last time out.
“He was fantastic today,” Murphy said. “He did a great job. You can see the confidence coming out of him, so that’s a great thing for a guy with limited experience. And the way he’s throwing the ball for us, it was great. He was great, gave us six innings.”
In Harrison’s previous appearance, he tossed six scoreless innings of one-hit ball in a 5-0 win over Pittsburgh. Harrison has yet to face the Yankees.
Outfielder Jackson Chourio has hit in three straight games since coming off the injured list, batting .538 (7-for-13) with three doubles and two RBIs.
–Field Level Media
