Rangers at Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers have been without three of their starting pitchers for the better part of a month and reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich for nearly a week, but that hasn't kept them from enjoying one of their best stretches of the season. The Brewers attempt to earn a sixth straight victory on Sunday, when they look to complete a three-game sweep of their interleague series against the visiting Texas Rangers.
Shortly after Gio Gonzalez returned, Zach Davies joined fellow rotation members Brandon Woodruff and Jhoulys Chacin on Milwaukee's injured list on Monday - the same day Yelich experienced back spasms that have kept him out of action. Rookie Trent Grisham - his replacement in right field - did his best impression of the two-time All-Star in Saturday's 3-2 triumph, finishing 3-for-3 with two runs scored to back the best start of reliever-turned-starter Adrian Houser's brief major-league career and draw the Brewers within 1 1/2 games of first place in the NL Central while keeping them in possession of one of the NL's two wild-card spots. Texas has dropped four straight and finds itself 8 1/2 games back in the American League wild-card race. The Rangers are 12-22 since moving 10 games over .500 on June 28 and continue to come up short in clutch spots, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in this series.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), FS Wisconsin, WYTU (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH Mike Minor (10-6, 3.06 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Jordan Lyles (7-7, 4.97)
Minor produced his best performance in over a month during Monday's win in Cleveland, yielding seven hits and walking one while registering seven strikeouts over as many scoreless innings. The All-Star failed to record a quality start while going 1-2 with a 6.59 ERA in five turns during July after recording four in a row to end June - including a complete-game victory to conclude the month. Ryan Braun is hitless in 10 career at-bats versus Minor, who is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in five starts against Milwaukee.
After dropping six straight decisions to wrap up his time with Pittsburgh, Lyles improved to 2-0 in two starts with Milwaukee following Monday's victory against the Pirates. The native of South Carolina has allowed one earned run over five innings in each of his turns with the Brewers, giving up a total of five hits while issuing four walks. Lyles settled for a no-decision against the Rangers as a member of the Pirates on April 30 after permitting two runs in four frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Brewers rookie 2B Keston Hiura has gone 6-for-16 during his four-game hitting streak after going 3-for-28 over his previous eight contests.
2. Texas mustered only five hits on Saturday, marking the fifth straight game in which it has managed six or fewer - matching the club's longest such streak since 1997.
3. Grisham has recorded two three-hit efforts since making his major-league debut on Aug. 1 but is a combined 3-for-20 in his other six contests.