Dbacks Head to Milwaukee, Face Brewers
By Kody Acevedo
So far, this road trip has not started off the way the Diamondbacks had hoped.
They were just swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in three games and have fallen to four games under .500 (21-25) and are seven games back in the NL West race.
But, there is still a chance to make the ending to this road trip somewhat decent.
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They begin a three-game weekend series in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers for the first time this season. What is significant about that? Well, the Brewers are practically the worst team in baseball at the moment.
They come into the series with the worst record in the Majors (16-32) and sit dead-last in the NL Central.
In fact, the Brewers are currently riding a five-game losing streak and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. They were swept by the San Francisco Giants earlier this week and lost three out four against the Atlanta Braves last weekend.
The Brewers haven’t won a game since last Friday in Atlanta.
So this weekend’s matchup will feature two teams that were swept to begin the week, but Dbacks are not the team we saw earlier this week.
The Dbacks had won six of their last seven games prior to being swept by the Cardinals, including sweeping the Miami Marlins, a team that has only won two more games than the Brewers (and the Brewers don’t have the help of Giancarlo Stanton).
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The Dbacks are hoping the Brewers continue to have a rough month of May. I would add how the Brewers shape up at home compared to on the road, but with a 16-32 record, the Brewers have evenly won just 8 games this season at home and 8 games on the road.
So it doesn’t really matter where the game will be played, the Dbacks are catching the Brewers at a rough time and for the time being, it should work in their favor.
Here is a quick look at the pitching match ups.
Friday:
Rubby De La Rosa vs. Jimmy Nelson
It’ll be interesting to start the series as neither pitcher has faced either team in the past. De La Rosa enters the series with a rather high ERA at 4.27. Although he was a 4-2 record this season, he has walked away with a no decision in his last two starts. His last win came back on May 12th against the Washington Nationals.
Nelson is in his second full-season in the Majors. He had a brief cup of coffee with the Brewers in 2013, appearing in just four games and throwing just 10 innings.
In 2014, he ended the year with a 2-9 record and a 4.93 ERA in 69 1/3 innings.
This year, he is 2-5 in nine games and owns a 3.67 record in 56 1/3 innings pitched. His last start on May 24th resulted in a loss after 5 2/3 innings pitched.
Saturday:
Jeremy Hellickson vs. Kyle Lohse
Hellickson has had a frustrating start to his Dback’s career. Throughout the first two months of the season, Hellickson is just 2-3 in nine starts. He is sporting a 5.33 ERA in 50 2/3 innings pitched. Hopefully, things are beginning to turn around for the right-hander. He picked up his second win on May 24th against the Cubs. Prior to that, Hellickson had four consecutive no decisions.
Lohse’s struggles continue to mirror that of the Brewers in general. After putting up winning records in 2013 and 2014 and ERAs around 3.50, Lohse is just 3-5 this year and owns a 5.80 ERA. So numbers wise, he not that far off from Hellickson. Which means Saturday might be a high scoring game, depending on how the bullpens fair.
Sunday:
Chase Anderson vs. Matt Garza
To finish off the month of May, the Dbacks will send Chase Anderson to the hill to wrap up the three game series in Milwaukee. Anderson, who has been pretty consistent this season, has really just run in to some bad luck pretty much every time he gets the start.
He is 1-1 this season in 9 games. Despite the record, he is putting up a respectable 2.59 ERA in 55 2/3 innings.
His one and only win came on May 20th against the Marlins.
Garza, who has bounced around the Majors with stops in Tampa Bay, Chicago and Texas, is in his second season with Milwaukee. And just like most of Milwaukee’s starting rotation, Garza has struggled.
Garza owns a 6.00 ERA and a 2-7 record. He had lost four out of his last five starts and has given up a total of 63 runs so far this season.