The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers open their own series on Monday at Dodgers stadium. The Dodgers are now well over the .500 mark after taking the series against the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile, the Brewers continue their West Coast tour with this four-game series against the Dodgers.
After a 7-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the Brewers have now won three in a row. Likewise, the Dodgers are winners of three consecutive games with a 5-1 domination of the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
The Dodgers are on the cusp of completing a sweep of Atlanta and they have dominated the series by outscoring the Braves 17-4 in the first three games of the series, allowing their opponent to score just one run each on Friday and Saturday. Yasiel Puig’s return to the Dodgers’ lineup saw him drill his 12th home run of the season along with 3 RBIs.
Kenta Maeda (7-5, 3.27 ERA) will start for the Dodgers in this series opener. Maeda didn’t factor in the decision during the Dodger’s 16 inning loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on July 24th. The Osaka, Japan native allowed four runs on six hits over seven innings pitched while striking out seven batters without a walk yielded.
Maeda was solid for six innings, allowing just one run on three hits. But he got tagged with three runs in the 7th inning, including a two-run home run from Jorge Alfaro which tied the game at 4-4. That was the first time since May where he allowed more than three runs. The right-hander will bring his 3.27 ERA and 1.20 WHIP against the Brewers.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers continue to put the pressure on the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central division. After Thursday’s wild finish against San Francisco, the Brewers have dominated the Giants in back to back games. Milwaukee starters Jhoulys Chacin and Chase Anderson gave up only one run in their long outings while their bullpen hasn’t given up anything either.
Christian Yelich, batting .318, has a 12 game hitting streak going and he’s produced 7 hits and 5 RBIs in the series so far. On the other hand, Jesus Aguilar leads Milwaukee with 25 home runs and 73 RBIs on the season. The Brewers have a batting average of .246 and are allowing opposing teams to hit .230 at the plate.
Freddy Peralta (4-2, 3.74 ERA) will open at the mound for the Brewers. The 22-year-old right-hander got the loss during the Brewers 3-7 loss to Washington on July 25th. Peralta gave up 7 runs, including 2 home runs on 4 hits and 7 errors in 6 innings pitched. He also struck out seven and walked four batters during that game. The rookie hurler has posted a pitching ratio of 11 strikeouts to 7 walks in his last two games he’s started. Over that period, he’s also allowed 3 home runs and 10 total runs.
The Brewers are only 4-9 in their last 13 games on the road and are just 3-7 in their last 10 games against right-handed pitching starters. On the other hand, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 5-1 in their last six games against National League Central division opponents and 23-8 in their last 31 games against right-handers.
The Milwaukee Brewers have won five of its last six games while the Los Angeles Dodgers have lost just once in their last seven home games. The Dodgers won two out of three in Milwaukee a week ago and it seems to be a trend that the Dodgers’ offense wakes up during series openers in Dodgers Stadium. This one should be no different.
These are two teams that are coming off dominant efforts against opponents last week. The Brewers’ bullpen has been particularly good with a 1.69 ERA in their last 5 games. But between these two starters, it’s Peralta who’s shown weakness as of late compared to Maeda. The starting pitcher should be the main difference here as we are picking the Los Angeles Dodgers to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. .
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