It’s time for the rubber match between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs on a beautiful, sunny afternoon at American Family Field. The Brewers are looking for the series win and a chance to secure a 7.5 game lead over the Chicago Cubs as we reach the mathematical halfway point of the season. This is the Brewers 81st game out of 162.
On the mound, the Brewers will have their veteran leader Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff made a strong return to the rotation on the last road trip after dealing with
dead arm and a six week IL stint. Woodruff will be looking to repeat that success against the Cubs, a team that knows him very well and vice versa.
The Cubs, meanwhile, will have a former first round pick in Ryan Rolison on the bump. Rolison was drafted by the Rockies, struggled there upon making his MLB debut last year and bounced around and was a member of the Braves and White Sox on paper over the offseason before landing with the Cubs. He’s having a solid season, with a 1.82 ERA in 25 appearances, though this is just his second start. It’ll largely be a bullpen game for the Cubs this afternoon as they try to piece together their rotation after dealing with a number of injuries.
The Brewers will have nearly all of their regulars in the starting lineup despite it being a Sunday afternoon. Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and Brice Turang make up the top of the order as they generally do. William Contreras gets the day off however with a day game after a night game. Gary Sanchez will be behind the dish and batting sixth. Garrett Mitchell is also out of the lineup after exiting last night with a cramp, but it doesn’t appear to be anything serious. Chourio slides over to center and Jake Bauers is in left field, allowing both Bauers and Vaughn to fit into the lineup.
The Cubs will be rolling out a similar lineup as they have all series. Pete Crow-Armstrong leads off, followed by Alex Bregman, Michael Busch, and Seiya Suzuki.
After the bullpen struggled last night, the Brewers will be looking for a vintage Brandon Woodruff start to shut the Cubs down and do it efficiently. The Cubs bullpen has had some struggles so if the Brewers can get to Rolison and the rest of that group early, things can line up very well for the Crew.
