Greetings to all of you on this Memorial Day!
The Brewers finally lost a series over the weekend, their first series loss since April 24-26 against Pittsburgh, but it was still a good week, as Milwaukee went 4-2 against the Cubs and Dodgers. They’ll try to keep playing good baseball against another NL Central foe this week, as they start a three-game series with the surprising St. Louis Cardinals today at American Family Field.
The Cardinals are doing better than anyone thought. I am one of those people. There’s certainly a lot of season left, but St. Louis has jumped out to a 29-22 record, just behind the Brewers for second in the NL Central, despite a run differential of +1. A big part of that is their record in one-run games: at 10-4, the only teams in their territory in this regard are the Rays (9-1) and the Cubs (9-3). They’re also 7-2 in extra-inning games this year, which is more wins in extras than any other team. These underlying factors suggest some regression could be in the cards (get it), but Brewers fans have seen enough of this devil magic in their lifetimes to take nothing for granted, even if it seems as if some of that witchery has moved up to Milwaukee in the past few years.
Starting for St. Louis is lefty Matthew Liberatore, who hasn’t had a great year. In 10 starts, he’s 2-2 with a 4.70 ERA and 4.84 FIP, with not quite enough strikeouts (7.5 per nine) and a few too many walks (3.5 per nine) and homers (1.6 per nine). He’s allowed four runs in five innings or less in each of his last two starts, so the Brewers will try to get to him as well.
Jacob Misiorowski will be on the hill for the Brewers, and a scoreless outing today would likely clinch a scoreless May for the flamethrowing right-hander — he hasn’t allowed a run since that last series loss, on April 25 against Pittsburgh. We’ve covered it heavily, but it bears repeating: in the month of May, Misiorowski has a 0.00 ERA in 24 1/3 innings, during which he has struck out 37 batters and walked five (and allowed only nine hits). At the risk of jinxing something, Misiorowski seems to have ascended to the very top of the food chain far faster than anyone, including himself, expected. As long as he is pitching this way, he is very much in the Cy Young conversation.
Christian Yelich is back in the lineup today, a slight surprise versus the left-handed Liberatore. Brice Turang and Garrett Mitchell are the other lefties in today, while Jackson Chourio and Blake Perkins round out the outfield with Luis Rengifo, Joey Ortiz, Andrew Vaughn, and William Contreras the others in the infield. A possible new Brewer nemesis, JJ Wetherholt, tops the Cardinals’ lineup: he came into the season ranked as high as No. 3 in prospect rankings, and he’s been one of the best middle infielders in the league thus far this season, combining solid offense (a 120 OPS+, nine homers) with defensive metrics that place him amongst the elite glovemen in the league.
It’s a rare Monday matinee on the holiday today, with first pitch at 1:10 p.m. Catch the game on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.