Fresh off celebrating their fourth consecutive National League Central title, the Milwaukee Brewers will vie for a series win on Wednesday night when they visit the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Led by five scoreless innings from Jacob Misiorowski, the Brewers (94-57) secured the division crown with a 5-1 series-opening win over the Pirates (75-76), coupled with a Chicago Cubs loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Rookie Logan Henderson (10-3, 2.34 ERA) will start on Wednesday as he tries to push the Brewers closer to the top seed in the National League and home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.
Henderson will oppose fellow right-hander Jared Jones (4-6, 4.10 ERA) of Pittsburgh in what will be a rematch of their game in Milwaukee on Aug. 4, which the Brewers won 4-2. Jones has not allowed a run in his past two starts, a stretch of 13 innings.
Said Henderson: “We’ve got a long way to go. There’s a lot bigger goals out there — team goals. That’s what we’re striving for.”
After the Brewers secured the final out on Tuesday, they watched the end of the Cubs game before the traditional champagne-soaked celebration began.
“It’s awesome,” Misiorowski said. “This is what you pray for and hope for as a baseball player. That’s the whole goal in every game that leads up to it.”
Henderson has a streak of 21 outings of having allowed three earned runs or less to begin his career. His streak is the second-longest in MLB history, tied with Aaron Sele’s from 1993-1994.
Zac Gallen holds the record with 23 consecutive outings during the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Henderson lasted just five innings in his most recent outing last Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs, allowing one unearned run on two hits and one walk while striking out six in an 8-6 victory. Before that, he had thrown six consecutive quality starts.
Henderson allowed two runs on four hits — including a pair of home runs — while striking out eight over six innings on Aug. 4 in the only time he has faced the Pirates this season. He is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against them.
Pittsburgh remained seven games behind San Diego in the race for the final NL wild-card berth with 11 games to play. But the Pirates can take solace in the recent pitching of Jones, who is having a strong finish to his comeback season following right elbow surgery.
He allowed only one hit over seven innings, walked two and struck out eight last Thursday to help Pittsburgh blank the Chicago White Sox 2-0.
Jones has not let the Pirates’ dwindling playoff hopes diminish his accomplishments of late.
“Going through the injury I did wasn’t fun. A lot of hours on the couch watching the guys play last year and parts of this year,” he told MLB.com. “So being able to come out here when we’re in must-win games throughout the entire month, and going out there and getting a win, it feels really good.”
Jones gave up three runs on eight hits, including two home runs, walked one and struck out four in the Aug. 4 game against the Brewers. He is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two career starts vs. them.
–Field Level Media
