Some things to read while switching over.
The Milwaukee Brewers were off on Thursday but resume their homestand tonight at 7:10 p.m., when they open a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yovani Gallardo will face Jeff Locke, and Caitlin Sweica has the MLB.com preview.
Jonathan Lucroy is likely to get the start behind the plate as he continues to make a case for individual awards. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com asked the Brewers backstop if he thinks he’s a contender for the National League Most Valuable Player Award, and Lucroy said he’s more focused on helping the team win. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs has a look at how Lucroy’s pitch framing abilities could factor into his MVP case. Meanwhile, BCB user nullacct worked Lucroy and various other Brewers into popular memes.
Lucroy is one of five Brewers with at least 25 doubles on the season and a mark at or above 115 in OPS+, an advanced batting metric. Doug of High Heat Stats reports that the Brewers have never had more than three players hit 30 doubles in a season with an OPS+ that high.
Khris Davis will likely be back in the lineup tonight after sitting out in favor of Gerardo Parra on Weduesday, and if he gets a pitch down the middle, you can assume he’ll hit it hard. @Alecdopp notes that Davis’ .295 “hard-hit average” is the second-best in the NL, and that number climbs to .737 on off-speed pitches in the middle of the strike zone.
Wily Peralta will get another opportunity to win his 16th game of the season on Saturday, and he may need to do so to hold onto the MLB lead in that category. Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals also has 15 wins on the season and will start against the Phillies tonight. Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto also had a shot at win No. 16 on Wednesday but lost.
Peralta has largely outpitched teammate Matt Garza this season, but that doesn’t mean Garza hasn’t had a successful first season as a Brewer. Nick Michalski of The Brewers Bar looked at Garza’s contract in comparison to some of the other free agent deals given to pitchers over the winter and concludes the organization appears to have gotten a good deal.
The Brewers will get a chance to bounce back tonight in their first game since having some offensive success but ultimately losing to knuckleballer R.A. Dickey on Wednesday. The Brewers’ struggles to hit “junkball” pitchers are a theory that’s been discussed before, and Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker looked into it on Thursday.
Scooter Gennett had a hit on Wednesday and has at least one in nine of his last 10 starts despite struggling through some soreness in his quad. Gennett is hitting .341 with a .372 on-base percentage and .545 slugging in 53 games since June 1, and Andrew Gruman of Fox Sports Wisconsin says his bat is an asset for this team.
Mike Fiers is expected to start against Vance Worley in the series finale on Sunday, and he’s been remarkably good in his first three starts with the Brewers this season. Genaro C. Armas of the Associated Press talked to Fiers about his efforts to earn a permanent spot in the starting rotation.
The Brewers and Dodgers will not meet again during the regular season, but if the season had ended before Thursday’s games, the two teams would have met in the National League Division Series. Grant Brisbee of SB Nation gave that potential playoff matchup a B-plus grade, and said the Brewers would create an interesting matchup with any team.
In the minors:
- The Brewers have yet to announce the full contingent of players they’ll send to play in the Arizona Fall League after the season, but at least one has been informed he’ll be headed out to the desert: Huntsville first baseman Nick Ramirez will represent the Brewers on the Glendale Desert Dogs. Ramirez is 25, was a fourth-round pick in the 2011 draft and is a career .252 hitter with a .312 on-base percentage and .444 slugging over 411 career minor league games.
- Back on the field, the affiliates went 1-5 on Thursday, with the lone win coming from Nashville, where Taylor Jungmann pitched six scoreless innings in the Sounds’ 7-0 win over Fresno in the second game of a doubleheader. You can read about all of the day’s action in the Brewerfan.net Link Report.
- Teddy Cahill of MLB.com has more on Jungmann, who has a 3.68 ERA over 26 appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season.
- Wisconsin lost 3-1 to Peoria on Thursday and their lead in the race for the Midwest League Western Division’s final playoff spot is back down to two games with 11 to play.
- The Brewers made a collection of roster moves on Thursday, with the most notable being Hunter Morris’ return to Nashville after more than a month on the disabled list and outfielder Kevin Mattison being released. Mattison saw a lot of playing time with the Brewers this spring but was hitting just .212 in 91 games for Nashville.
- I’ll be in-studio on The Big One with Marques Pfaff on 95.3 WSCO in Appleton at 2:30 p.m. today. Last week, I stayed for about an hour answering your calls, emails and tweets, so listen in and get your voice heard.
- From there, I’ll jump over to The Sports Den with Downtown Ollie Burrows on Sports Fan 100.5 in Wausau at 5:30 p.m. Follow that link to listen in live.
Around baseball:
Angels: Acquired infielder Gordon Beckham from the White Sox for a PTBNL or cash and placed pitcher Garrett Richards on the DL with a torn patella tendon in his knee.
Cubs: Placed pitcher Edwin Jackson on the DL with a lat strain and shortstop Starlin Castro on the bereavement list.
Let’s go around the NL Central:
- The Reds lost their sixth consecutive game on Thursday, falling 8-0 to the Braves. Starting pitcher Davi Holmberg was roughed up in the loss, allowing six runs over just 2 2/3 innings.
- The Cubs and Giants split a doubleheader of sorts, with the Cubs winning 2-1 in the completion of a game that was halted early due to rain on Tuesday and the Giants winning 5-3 in the day’s regularly scheduled game.
- The Brewers, Cardinals and Pirates were off on Thursday.
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Brewers | 71 | 56 | — | vs Pirates, 7:10 p.m. | Yovani Gallardo vs Jeff Locke |
| Cardinals | 69 | 57 | 1.5 | @ Phillies, 6:05 p.m. | Adam Wainwright vs Kyle Kendrick |
| Pirates | 65 | 62 | 6 | @ Brewers, 7:10 p.m. | Jeff Locke vs Yovani Gallardo |
| Reds | 61 | 67 | 10.5 | vs Braves, 6:10 p.m. | Mat Latos vs Mike Minor |
| Cubs | 55 | 72 | 16 | vs Orioles, 1:20 p.m. | Jake Arrieta vs Kevin Gausman |
Largely because of wins by the Braves and Giants, Baseball Prospectus has the Brewers’ playoff chances down slightly this morning. They’re now at 90.4 percent, a 0.8 percent decrease from Thursday.
The Brewers have been playing solid baseball lately but haven’t gained ground in the race for the NL’s best record because the Nationals won their 10th consecutive game on Thursday. They’re now 73-53, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Crew and three games ahead of the Dodgers.
Finally, with help from the Baseball Reference Play Index, we’d like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- 2010-12 Brewer Randy Wolf, who turns 38.
- 1997-98 Brewer Darrin Jackson, who turns 51.
- Hall of Famer and 1978-92 Brewer Paul Molitor, who turns 58 (Today In Brewer History).
- 1976-77 Brewer Gary Beare, who turns 62.
- 1985 and 1987 Brewer Ray Burris, who turns 64.
- Milwaukee native Happy Felsch, who would have turned 123. Felsch played six seasons in the majors between 1915-20 as a member of the White Sox.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a use for all of this saffron.
Drink up.
Don’t forget to follow Kyle on Twitter @BrewFrostyMug, and check out and “like” the Mug’s Facebook page. The Frosty Mug runs mornings Monday-Friday and is brought to you by Legends of the Field, a sports memorabilia company you can trust.
