Despite losing leading hitter Christian Yelich to season-ending back surgery, the Milwaukee Brewers have plenty of momentum and will try to finish a series sweep of the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon.
Milwaukee, leader of the National League Central, enters the contest with four wins in a row, all against division-leading teams.
The Brewers closed their four-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers with back-to-back victories earlier in the week, and Milwaukee followed by winning the first two meetings with the Guardians.
No one could blame the Brewers if they felt down, given Yelich’s addition to the long list of injuries the team has had to cope with. But the Brewers have plenty of players who can step up to lead the team.
Lately, that’s been catcher William Contreras, who hit his fourth home run in the past six games on Saturday. It turned out to be the decisive blow in the 2-1 pitchers’ duel against the Guardians.
“I just feel really good at the plate right now; I’m feeling really comfortable,” Contreras said. “Not really trying to do too much, just doing whatever I can to help the team. I think we’re playing good ball on both sides of the ball right now, both offensively and defensively. I think there’s maybe some people who didn’t expect us to win as many games in this stretch as we have, but that’s how baseball goes. We’re there every night to play our best game.”
As for the Guardians, who lead the American League Central, timely hitting has been hard to come by against the Brewers. Cleveland entered the series with a five-game winning streak but has just four runs over the first two games.
Will Brennan’s seven-game hitting streak ended in Saturday’s loss. Josh Naylor provided the lone run for the Guardians with a home run. He is the only Cleveland player to record at least one hit in both games of the series.
“It’s a long season, and I’m learning that more and more every day, but these guys play hard every day,” Guardians first-year manager Stephen Vogt said.
They don’t plan on leaving Milwaukee empty-handed.
Right-hander Ben Lively (10-7, 3.71 ERA) is expected to start for the Guardians on Sunday. He also will try to shake off past struggles with the Brewers. Lively is 0-3 through four career appearances against Milwaukee, with a 3.47 ERA, 16 strikeouts and five walks over 23 1/3 career innings.
In his most recent start, against the Chicago Cubs on Monday, Lively was pulled after he gave up three earned runs, including two home runs, four walks and five hits over 3 2/3 innings. Despite his early struggles, the Guardians won 9-8.
Milwaukee is slated to turn to right-hander Colin Rea (10-4, 3.72 ERA) on Sunday. Rea is aiming to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season. He gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits, including four home runs, in a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.
The 34-year old Rea only has one career appearance against the Guardians. He pitched two shutout innings in relief against them in August 2020. He recorded one strikeout and gave up one hit in his brief outing.
–Field Level Media
