After a pair of tough losses to the Texas Rangers, the Milwaukee Brewers are looking to avoid a sweep in Arlington on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily for the Crew, they’ll have All-Star Freddy Peralta on the mound to help.
Peralta hasn’t allowed a run since August 5, a span stretching 29 1/3 innings, as he’s pushed his season ERA from a tick over 3.00 all the way down to 2.50 entering this one. For the season, Peralta is at 176 strikeouts across 158 2/3 innings, putting him just 24 strikeouts away from a third
consecutive 200-strikeout season.
Opposing Peralta today is Merrill Kelly, who spent 6 1/2 seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks before being traded to Texas at the deadline. For the season, Kelly has a 3.16 ERA with 156 strikeouts across 171 innings. He’s been even better since joining the Rangers, with a 2.98 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 42 1/3 innings. He went seven innings against the Astros in his last start, allowing one run on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
Milwaukee’s lineup starts with the same three at the top — Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, and Christian Yelich — as it did yesterday. Behind them, Jake Bauers, Sal Frelick, Caleb Durbin, and Blake Perkins (happy 29th birthday, Blake!) fill in the middle of the order. Danny Jansen starts at catcher and bats eighth, with Joey Ortiz rounding out the lineup.
Also of note: William Contreras gets his first day off since June 25, which may or may not be due to him taking a spiked pitch off the right wrist in last night’s loss. Ouch. Let’s hope it’s just a couple of days off for him.
For the second consecutive day, the Brewers can clinch a postseason berth today, though it’ll take a bit of help: a Brewers win, combined with losses by the Reds (@ Padres), Giants (vs. D-backs), and Dodgers (vs. Rockies) would guarantee we’ll see Milwaukee play some October baseball.
First pitch is slated for 1:35 p.m. CT on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and MLB Network for out-of-market viewers. You can also tune in on the Brewers Radio Network.
