The Milwaukee Brewers return home to American Family Field to begin a six game homestand against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks. The first matchup of this homestand is a doozy.
It’s a battle of the aces on the mound tonight with the wily veteran Brandon Woodruff pitching for the Crew while the Pirates will have the reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. This is the back end of a back-to-back stretch against reigning Cy Young winners after facing Tarik Skubal on Thursday afternoon. It’s just the second time in MLB history a team will go through that.
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Woodruff is 2-0 on the year with a 3.42 ERA while Skenes is 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA.
The Brewers made some roster moves ahead of Friday’s game. Tyler Black and Shane Drohan have been called up to the big league club.
“(Black)’s healthy and right now he’s one of our best 13 position players. Had a great spring, borderline made the club almost (out of spring).” Pat Murphy said “So it’s a no-brainer.”
Black will primarily play DH and first base for the Crew. Meanwhile Drohan is slated to be in bulk relief and is not currently scheduled to make any starts.
To make room, the Brewers optioned Carlos Rodriguez back to Nashville and designated Luis Matos for assignment. Matos hit just .200 (4-for-20) with a .438 OPS in nine games with the Crew. Rodriguez allowed one run in 4 IP across two outings during this stint with the Brewers.
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As for the lineup tonight, Pat Murphy is stacking the lineup with left-handers against Skenes. William Contreras and Brandon Lockridge are the only true righties in the order. Brice Turang, Contreras, and Jake Bauers are atop the order. Tyler Black, just called up to make his season debut, is batting cleanup. Luis Rengifo gets the start at third with David Hamilton at short. Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and Lockridge make up the outfield.
The Pirates have some lefties atop their order in Oneil Cruz and Brandon Lowe, followed by the switch hitting Bryan Reynolds. Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in baseball, is batting eighth.
The Brewers will be wearing their Wisco City Connect jerseys, still searching for their first win in the uniform after going 0-3 in that first weekend in them. They’ll have to do it against the best pitcher in the National League.