The Brewers are currently in the midst of an eighteen-day stretch in which they will play nineteen games — an especially brutal schedule for a team plagued by injuries. They will finally get a day off on Tuesday (thanks to Labor Day), but things aren’t going to get any easier until then. Milwaukee’s opponent this weekend is the Blue Jays, who currently have the best record in the American League. For more on how the Crew stacks up against Toronto, check out Harrison’s series preview here.
Luckily,
the Brewers get to roll out their ace, Freddy Peralta, for today’s series opener. The veteran right-hander has been effective all season, but he’s been especially nails recently. Peralta has now gone three consecutive starts without allowing a run. The last time he gave up more than three hits was almost a month ago (August 5th at Atlanta). Peralta’s ERA (2.68) is now the fourth-lowest in the NL among qualified starting pitchers, and he leads all of baseball with 15 wins.
Toronto’s starter is former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. Bieber, acquired from the Guardians at the deadline for prospect Khal Stephen, has missed most of the season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He made his first start of the year on August 22nd, allowing two hits and one earned run over six innings while striking out nine.
Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, who has been on the IL all month with a hamstring strain, is reportedly with the team in Toronto. However, Chourio isn’t in the lineup for today’s game and will not be activated until tomorrow, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
With Chourio set to miss another game, Blake Perkins gets the start in center field tonight. Brice Turang is back in the leadoff spot after hitting cleanup yesterday. He’ll be followed by William Contreras, Christian Yelich (at DH tonight), and Andrew Vaughn. Sal Frelick, who led off yesterday, is hitting fifth. Caleb Durbin slides down to sixth after hitting second yesterday. Rounding out the bottom of the order are Isaac Collins, Perkins, and Andruw Monasterio.
In other roster news, Milwaukee has activated reliever Rob Zastryzny from the 15-day IL. Easton McGee, who pitched two scoreless innings against the D-Backs yesterday, is heading back down to Triple-A Nashville to make room for Zastryzny.
Today’s game will be broadcast via FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network. First pitch is at 6:07 p.m. CT.
