The Brewers look to climb back to .500 this afternoon as they tee up against the Cubs at 1:20 pm, looking for the series win. After a walk-off win Opening Day, the Brewers offense struggled to come alive, before finally showing life in last night’s 4 – 0 win. It is not time to panic, there’s a lot of season left, a continued sign of offensive production would be a welcome sight.
Unfortunately, the Brewers face the Cubs’ best pitcher today in Kyle Hendricks, who they have struggled against. After the game, the Brewers travel to St. Louis for a weekend series. They then go back home to face the Cubs again on Monday.
The Series so-far
Game 1: Cubs 5 Brewers 3
Game 2: Brewers 4 Cubs 0
The Brewers were efficient with their pitching last night, only using Peralta, Suter, and Brad Boxberger, who made his Milwaukee debut. Counsell will have a near-full bullpen at his disposal. Hopefully he will not need that though, because it’s Brandon Woodruff Day in Milwaukee.
THE PITCHERS
Kyle Hendricks
Hendricks only went three innings in his Opening Day start against the Pirates. He allowed three runs, four hits, and four strikeouts in a 5-3 loss. He relies on 4 pitches, and is a master at inducing week contact, and limiting opponent exit velocity.
For the Brewers, getting the bats to show life will be a positive. But Hendricks has had past success against Milwaukee. In 24 games (136.1 innings) against Milwaukee, Hendricks has held Milwaukee to an OPS of .597. Hendricks has a WHIP of 1.049 against the Brewers in his career.
Christian Yelich has a career slash of (.194/.235/.290) in 31 career at bats against Hendricks. Travis Shaw has 3 career home runs against Hendricks, and slashed (.259/.300/.667) in 27 career at bats against Hendricks.
Brandon Woodruff
The Brewers begin their second turn of the rotation, as Brandon Woodruff takes the bump for Milwaukee. Woodruff went four innings against Minnesota allowing three runs, striking out five. For Woodruff to go deep into this game, he is going to have to keep his pitch count down, something he struggled to do Opening Day.
In his career against the Cubs, Woodruff has allowed an OPS of .624 in 31 career innings. Woodruff has struck out 40 batters in those 31 innings, and has a career 1.194 WHIP against Chicago.
Kris Bryant has slashed (.154/.214/.231) in 13 at bats against Woodruff. Anthony Rizzo has slashed (.167/.333/.167) in 12 at bats against Woodruff. Small sample sizes, but Woodruff has found success against Chicago before.
THE LINEUPS
Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the homestand finale!#CubTogether pic.twitter.com/sFstxiiMhQ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 7, 2021
Willson Contreras gets the day off after leaning into a Brent Suter pitch in the 6th. Former Brewer Eric Sogard also sees his first start of the series.
The series finale against the Cubs gets underway at 1:20 p.m. CT.
Watch: @BallySportWI
Listen: @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/fGCwmXqeqA— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 7, 2021
Lorenzo Cain is back in the lineup today after sitting for a couple of games as he dealt with an oblique injury. Keston Hiura is also back in after sitting yesterday. Narvaez gets the day off, which makes sense following a night game. Kolten Wong was initially in the lineup, but was replaced with Daniel Robertson.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Please let the offense do something. Today is a great day for Keston Hiura to break out of his funk, and prove Twitter wrong. Also, the benches cleared last night after Willson Contreras got hit by Brad Boxberger, so potential retaliation could be something to watch for.
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