It has been quite a series. After two late comeback victories in a row, the Milwaukee Brewers are looking for a sweep tonight of their rivals, the Chicago Cubs. Last night’s victory assured the Brewers of the season series and thus any tiebreaker, though their now-nine-game lead with only 16 games remaining means that tiebreaker should not matter. Still, Milwaukee is battling with the Dodgers and Braves for the top two seeds in the National League, so there’s still plenty to keep playing for.
On the
bump for the Brewers tonight will be the guy who has developed into the Robin to Jacob Misiorowski’s Batman, Logan Henderson. Henderson has been nothing short of fantastic: he’s allowed fewer than three runs in 13 of his 15 starts this season, and more than three in zero of them. Henderson has also been a reliable source of innings lately: he’s completed seven innings in three of his last four outings after never having done it in any of his first 16 career starts. Overall, Henderson has pitched to a 2.48 ERA and an eye-popping 0.792 WHIP. He’s striking out 10 batters per nine innings while walking just 1.5 per nine; if he had enough innings to qualify, Henderson would lead major-league starters in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 6.64.
On the other side will be one of Chicago’s trade dealine pickups, Kevin Gausman. Gausman has pitched to nearly identical ERAs before and after the trade: when traded, he had a 4.38 ERA with Toronto, and he’s got a 4.37 ERA in six starts with the Cubs. Regardless of which you look at, FIP suggests he’s had bad luck—Gausman had a 3.50 FIP with Toronto and it’s at 3.83 with the Cubs. Gausman was fantastic against the Brewers last week, though: on Thursday, he went seven innings, allowed only one run on five hits and a walk, and struck out nine, his highest total since April 1st.
After his big night last night, Jackson Chourio is back atop the Brewers’ lineup. Joining him in the outfield tonight are Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, while Andrew Vaughn, Brice Turang, Cooper Pratt, and Joey Ortiz make up the infield. William Conteras is catching, and Christian Yelich bats fifth as the designated hitter.
First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network. How about a sweep?
