With one eye on trade deadline possibilities, the Milwaukee Brewers will turn to right-hander Brandon Sproat as they return home to open a four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.
Sproat (3-6, 5.05 ERA) will oppose Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.56) in a matchup of young right-handers searching for consistency.
Milwaukee lost 3-0 to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday to finish at 3-3 on its West Coast swing. Hard-throwing ace Jacob Misiorowski struck out 10 and allowed just two hits, but one was a two-run homer by Wade Meckler in the second inning.
Pittsburgh lost at Cincinnati 10-2 on Sunday as Mitch Keller was rocked for seven runs in two innings, allowing six hits and walking four. The Pirates have lost five of their last six and eight of their last 11.
Milwaukee, bidding for a fourth consecutive NL Central title, leads the second-place Chicago Cubs by 6 1/2 games in the division. The Brewers hold the best overall record in baseball, a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Brewers are 19-10 against division rivals, but just 1-5 vs. the Pirates, including a three-game sweep at Pittsburgh to close out the first half.
The team had been mentioned as a possible destination for Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who was dealt to the Dodgers on Saturday.
Milwaukee’s only move so far was acquiring catcher Bo Naylor and right-handed reliever Codi Heuer from Cleveland in exchange for outfielder Blake Perkins and reliever Craig Yoho on Saturday. Both Naylor and Heuer were assigned to Triple-A Nashville. The trade deadline is Monday at 6 p.m. ET.
Sproat allowed three runs in six innings his last start but was saddled with the loss in a 3-0 defeat at San Francisco. The big blow was a two-run homer by Grant McCray.
“There’s positives in there,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said afterward. “What (Sproat) did, giving us six innings … but again, he didn’t hold runners great. That hurt us a little bit, or it could have hurt us, and then the homer. But to give us six innings and keep us close in the game, that’s … there’s a positive in there.”
After going 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA in five starts in June, Sproat went 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in four starts in July, pitching more than 4 2/3 innings once, in his last start. He walked 12 in 17 2/3 innings in his four starts last month.
Sproat has faced the Pirates once, also allowing three runs (two earned) with two walks and three hit batters in a three-inning start on July 11, but he did not get a decision in a 7-6 loss.
Chandler did not record a decision in any of his four July starts, also lasting past 4 2/3 innings on just one occasion. In his last start, he allowed five runs (three earned) in four innings in an 8-7, 12-inning loss to the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
“We battled and, you know, wish I just could have got more, you know, what happens, happens,” Chandler said afterward. “I wish I just got a couple more innings with knowing how the game went, with just the pitching we had to use.”
Chandler faced the Brewers in July, allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings in a 3-2 Pirates home victory.
–Field Level Media
