After reaching 100 victories for the first time in franchise history, the Milwaukee Brewers will focus on postseason preparation when they host the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
Left-hander Robert Gasser (5-5, 4.01 ERA), coming off his best outing, is scheduled to start for the Brewers in the opener of the three-game series. Right-hander Michael McGreevy (7-9, 3.84) gets the nod for St. Louis.
Milwaukee (100-59), which already had a first-round bye in the playoffs, recorded a 5-1 win at Philadelphia on Thursday. The Brewers clinched the No. 1 seed in the National League following the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres later that night.
St. Louis (77-82) lost 2-1 at Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon. Alec Burleson accounted for the Cardinals’ lone run with a solo homer off Paul Skenes.
With the Brewers searching for a solid starter behind the one-two punch of Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson, Gasser responded with seven scoreless innings in his last start. He allowed just three hits and threw a career-high 107 pitches in a 1-0 victory at Baltimore last Saturday.
After bouncing back and forth to Triple-A Nashville early in the season, Gasser has been solid after being recalled in mid-July, going 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in his last seven appearances, including six starts.
In four starts this month, Gasser is 1-0 with a 1.71 ERA, allowing five runs (four earned) in 21 innings with just one homer.
“Just trying to stack good days,” Gasser said after his last start. “I think I said it last week, it’s not one game or one pitch that got me there. It’s accumulation over time, throughout the whole season and, yeah, feeling like I’m in a good spot now.”
Gasser is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis, including a 10-2 win this season in early July, allowing two runs on four hits in 7 2/3 innings.
With the postseason looming, the Brewers have limited the innings by starting pitchers since Gasser’s last outing.
McGreevy is 2-0 with a 3.74 ERA in four starts in September. He has not lost in nine starts since his last defeat on July 28.
McGreevy did not get the decision his last time out, allowing two runs and five hits in four innings in an 8-5 home loss to Washington. He tossed 88 pitches, walked one batter and struck out one.
“He had a 30-plus (pitch) inning in the first and they made him work quite a bit,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said afterward of the short outing. “He got his last out 88. Are you going to throw him an extra 10 pitches or so? It’s not worth it.”
McGreevy has faced the Brewers twice in his career, both this season. He took the loss in a 6-0 defeat in May, allowing five runs on seven hits in four innings, but notched the win in early July, giving up one run on five hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 5-1 victory.
–Field Level Media
