Little has deterred the Chicago Cubs’ vaunted offense this season, a trend the club wants to see prolonged on Friday in the series opener against the host Milwaukee Brewers.
Fresh off a series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in which the Cubs averaged 6.7 runs per game, Chicago leads the major leagues with 192 runs and 298 hits, sits second with a .264 batting average and a .342 on-base percentage, and ranks third with a .457 slugging percentage.
At the center of the Cubs’ intimidating lineup is designated hitter Seiya Suzuki, who launched two home runs in an 8-3 victory over the Pirates on Thursday. Suzuki paces Chicago with nine homers and a .295 batting average on the season, and he is tied with Kyle Tucker for the club lead with 28 RBIs.
“I think he’s got a lot of confidence right now,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Suzuki. “He’s just putting really good swings on the baseball and he had another nice day (Thursday). He’s being rewarded for having good at-bats.”
Second-year pitcher Ben Brown (2-2, 6.04 ERA) gets the series-opening start for the Cubs, aiming to turn the page from his shortest start of the season on Saturday.
Brown, 25, went just 3 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing six runs on nine hits in Chicago’s 10-4 loss. The right-hander started eight games a season ago, including the best outing of his career in his lone appearance against Milwaukee. Brown struck out 10 over seven hitless, scoreless innings in a no-decision on May 28, a game the Cubs went on to win 6-3 in 10 innings.
Milwaukee will try to forget its latest contest, an 8-0 setback in the series finale against the lowly Chicago White Sox on Thursday. The loss, which saw the Brewers muster two hits, followed a three-game winning streak.
The club is dealing with a slew of injuries, with outfielders Garrett Mitchell (oblique strain) and Blake Perkins (right shin fracture) and pitchers Aaron Ashby (oblique), Brandon Woodruff (shoulder), Aaron Civale (hamstring) and Nestor Cortes (elbow) all on the injured list.
Nonetheless, manager Pat Murphy won’t be caught using the injuries as an excuse ahead of the National League Central matchup.
“It doesn’t get any easier, because there are no bad teams,” Murphy said. “There’s no mercy in this game. ‘Oh, poor them, they got hurt. Oh, they had West Coast trips. Poor them.’ That’s not a thing. Everybody’s going to try to step on your throat.”
Hoping to get over the ugly Thursday loss, the Brewers will hand the ball to Quinn Priester (1-0, 3.79 ERA), who will make his fifth start of the season on Friday.
The 24-year-old right-hander surrendered five runs on eight hits across five innings Saturday in a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals. Priester has only faced the Cubs once in his big league career, when he allowed four runs in six innings in a no-decision as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in September 2023.
Friday marks the start of a six-game homestand for the Brewers, as they host the Houston Astros when the Cubs leave town.
–Field Level Media
