Milwaukee Brewers (68-60) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (61-67)
The Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks continue their quests to make the postseason as these clubs begin a four-game series starting on Thursday. Entering Wednesday’s action, Milwaukee was 6.0 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central and 2.5 games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League. Arizona is far removed from contention for the NL West crown but is still hanging around in the wild card chase, 9.5 games out thanks to a five-game winning streak entering Wednesday’s game with the Philadelphia Phillies.
These teams have not faced each other since 2021 when Milwaukee took six of the seven games between these clubs, including two of three in Arizona. At the time this preview was written, neither the line nor the total had been set.
The Brewers had a golden opportunity to make up some ground, taking on Pittsburgh for three games leading into this Arizona series, and battling Chicago for six over the last two weekends. However, they are 4-4 through the first eight of those nine games. The club did go 4-3 against Los Angeles Dodgers and swept a two-game set against Tampa Bay, but they have not been knocking out losing teams, going 5-9 in the first 14 games in August against teams with a losing record.
Cutch be like that@TheCUTCH22 | #BrewCrewConnect pic.twitter.com/04JF4mxTvh
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 31, 2022
This series against Arizona is the sixth in their last 10 series against teams with a losing record. Milwaukee is currently 30-28 against clubs under .500. While this club is eighth in runs per game (4.60), they have not been as potent in August, averaging 4.19 runs per game. They had a stretch of three games from Saturday through Monday where the club scored 23 runs, but have been held to three or fewer runs in 10 of their last 26 contests.
The Brewers start right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who is 9-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 20 starts. Woodruff tossed six shutout innings in his last start and has given up three or fewer earned runs in 14 straight starts. He has a 2.70 ERA in August, allowing 25 hits and eight walks while striking out 31 in 30.0 innings pitched.