The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a dramatic Labor Day victory over the Chicago Cubs and will look to continue to bury their NL Central rivals on Tuesday night. The magic number to clinch the division is at 10 for the Crew and it can drop down to single digits with a win.
They’ll have the pitcher they trust the most on the mound to get that done in ace Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski is coming off one of his worst starts of the year, allowing five runs over just four innings against the Cubs last
week. It raised his ERA on the season up to a whopping 1.97. But the bullpen and the offense picked him up in that start and the Crew still won 9-5 over Chicago.
In this game, with more ideal weather and mound conditions, Misiorowski is aiming to return closer to his usual form. His counterpart from the Cubs is left-hander David Peterson, who has a 5.39 ERA on the season and also matched up against Misiorowski last week. Peterson fared even worse, allowing six earned runs in 3.2 IP.
The Brewers offense will be looking to put up a similar performance against Peterson this time. But the Crew’s lineup will be missing one of their biggest bats again in Jake Bauers, who remains out of the lineup dealing with a myriad of bumps and bruises. Christian Yelich is also not in the starting lineup against the left-handed Peterson.
Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and Andrew Vaughn sit atop the Brewers order. William Contreras is cleaning up and catching while Gary Sanchez follows him and is the DH tonight. Luis Lara is batting sixth. Joey Ortiz, Garrett Mitchell and Cooper Pratt round out the bottom of the order.
The Cubs offense going up against Misiorowski will once again be led by the trio of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, and Alex Bregman at the top of the order. Michael Busch gets the start at first base and in the cleanup spot, followed by Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ. Matt Shaw moves to second base tonight, Tyrone Taylor drops to the eighth spot, and Miguel Amaya rounds out the bottom of the lineup for Craig Counsell.
There were also some pre-game injury updates from the Brewers. Injured left-hander Rob Zastryzny will begin a new rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville tomorrow and throw an inning. He has yet to pitch in a big league game this season with various shoulder and back injuries and setbacks when on rehab assignment. Also reliever Bryse Wilson is throwing at a 90 foot distance without issue and is tracking for a mid-late September return.
Milwaukee clinched the season series over Chicago with last night’s win. With a win tonight, they can drop their magic number for a fourth consecutive division title down to eight.
