NL Central rivals will finish up a three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field with the Milwaukee Brewers taking on the Chicago Cubs. Chicago will be going for the surprising sweep after winning 6-5 on Saturday in 11 innings to cash in as a +112 underdog. Milwaukee is two games out of the final NL Wild Card spot at 63-56, while the Cubs are out of contention at 52-67.
Despite the mismatch in records, the Cubs now lead the season series 9-6 over the Brewers.
If the Brewers don't make the playoffs their struggles against the Cubs will stand out as a big reason why, and they couldn't hold down Chicago in the late innings of Saturday's loss. Milwaukee went up on Willy Adames' two-run homer in the eighth, Mike Brosseau's RBI single in the 10th and Kolten Wong's RBI fielder's choice in the 11th, yet it still wasn't enough to stop the Cubs from walking off.
Freddy Peralta went six innings as he works back from injury, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out five. Devin Williams suffered his first blown save of the year, while Peter Strzelecki took the loss. Adames was on base three times, while Christian Yelich scored two runs.
“We’ve kind of put our backs up against the wall a little bit, and you have to respond,” manager Craig Counsell said to MLB.com. “That 019;s the baseball season and that’s our job moving forward. … Every team has losses like this that feel like it stings a little bit more. But we have to come out tomorrow and understand that it’s worth the same as the game today.”
Milwaukee is down a significant amount on the money line for the season while going 48-71 on the run line. Overs are 59-51-9 for the Brewers, with four of their last five games going over the betting total.
This is a top 10 scoring offense at 4.53 runs per game on a strong .729 OPS. Milwaukee pitching is solidly above average with a 3.83 combined ERA including a mark of 3.88 out of the bullpen.
Adames is Milwaukee's top position player at 2.6 WAR, posting a .738 OPS with 24 homers and 69 driven in. Hunter Renfroe is also providing strong pop, posting an .821 OPS with 22 homers and 50 driven in.
Brandon Woodruff is set to make 19th start, ho ping to continue another strong season as he's 9-3 with a 3.53 ERA and 117:29 K:BB ratio across 97 innings. The 29-year-old went five innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while piling up eight strikeouts.
Catcher Alex Jackson (sprained finger) and utilityman Jace Peterson (sprained elbow) are out. Starting pitcher Adrian Houser is recovering from a strained flexor tendon. Relievers Jake Cousins (elbow effusion), Trevor Gott (sprained elbow), Jandel Gustave (forearm discomfort), Trevor Rosenthal (strained hamstring) and Miguel Sanchez (elbow discomfort) are sidelined.