Brewers at Dodgers
The Milwaukee Brewers visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series starting Friday in their first meeting since Los Angeles won the 2018 National League Championship Series in seven games. The clubs have already shown signs this season that they could reconvene in October, although not of late as Milwaukee was swept in three games by the Angels in Anaheim while the Dodgers lost all four in St. Louis to start the week.
“It’s still early,” Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff told reporters. “We’ll look back on these games, and you won’t even think about them toward the end of the season when we’re winning a lot of ballgames.” Los Angeles was outscored 26-12 by the Cardinals with Thursday's 11-7 loss after sweeping three from Colorado at Coors Field by a combined 29-14 last weekend. The Dodgers (8-6) lead the National League with 96 runs and 29 homers - Milwaukee (8-5) has 23 - and Los Angeles on Friday faces a right-hander who has yielded three in each of his last two starts. Corbin Burnes became the first Brewers pitcher to allow at least three homers in consecutive games since Jason Bere in 2000 and opposes Julio Urias, who pitched 3 1/3 innings over four relief appearances in the 2018 NLCS - allowing only a solo home run to Jesus Aguilar in Game 1.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), SportsNet LA, KTLA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Corbin Burnes (0-1, 9.90 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Julio Urias (0-0, 3.12)
Burnes makes his first road start of 2019 after allowing 11 runs across 10 innings with 18 strikeouts and four walks over his first two turns. The 24-year-old Californian made four relief appearances - three scoreless - in the 2018 NLCS, striking out six in five innings before joining the rotation this season. "Corbin is a starter for us. We've made that commitment," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell told reporters. "The first two starts are odd, with the home runs, but his stuff has played really well, too. ... I think there's a lot of ingredients there for success. It's our job to help him get there. ..."
Urias wasn't sharp in Sunday's 12-6 victory at Colorado, allowing three runs, four hits and four walks on 74 pitches over 3 2/3 innings, but delivered an RBI single that turned into two runs because of an error. "You go out there with the confidence of putting up zeros, zero after zero, and let the offense do their job,'' the 22-year-old Mexican told reporters about his club's prodigious plate production. Urias has appeared in 28 career games - 14 home and 14 away - with a 3.05 ERA in 59 innings at Dodger Stadium compared to 4.33 in 54 frames on the road.
WALK-OFFS
1. Brewers C Yasmani Grandal, who hit 89 home runs while playing the last four years with the Dodgers, is 12-for-24 with three homers, four RBIs and four walks in his last seven games.
2. Los Angeles SS Corey Seager (.255) went 2-for-2 before leaving Thursday's contest in the fourth inning after he was hit in the left hamstring by a pitch.
3. Milwaukee INF Travis Shaw (6-for-39 this season) left Wednesday's game after getting hit on the right hand with a pitch.