With their playoff hopes fading and just 31 games remaining, the Milwaukee Brewers’ offense has gone dormant at the worst possible time.
The Brewers hope to jump-start their offense when they continue a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday in Phoenix.
While Arizona has won seven of its past eight, Milwaukee has fallen 7 1/2 games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central and 3 1/2 games out of the race for the third — and final — wild-card spot.
Milwaukee has scored just one run while dropping the first two games of the series. The Brewers outhit Arizona 9-6 in Friday’s 2-1 loss, but they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position while leaving 11 runners on base.
“That was a strange game,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “We got a bunch of base hits, a bunch of singles and didn’t have a ton of guys in scoring position. Nothing played after that, really. Nine hits, bunch of walks — kind of a strange offensive night, for sure.”
The Diamondbacks are 23-16 since the All-Star break and have received a spark from several recent arrivals, including Emmanuel Rivera.
Rivera, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals last month, went 3-for-3 with an RBI in Friday’s victory and is 10-for-31 (.323) with one homer and seven RBIs over his past eight games.
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo, who had his option for 2023 picked up earlier this week, became the first manager in franchise history to reach 400 wins with Friday’s victory.
“We’re moving forward,” Lovullo said. “This organization has a lot of good things to look forward to. But I want to make sure that we’re not happy with where we’re at today.”
The D-backs will send left-hander Madison Bumgarner (6-13, 4.87 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. He is coming off one of the worst months of his illustrious career with a 9.23 ERA over his past five starts across 26 1/3 innings.
Bumgarner, 33, turned in another dismal outing last Monday, when he yielded seven runs on 11 hits over 3 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“Velocity is not the issue,” Arizona pitching coach Brent Strom said. “He’s finding a little bit too much of the plate and that’s something that, with a little more timing and work, I think we can maybe lessen the mistakes and that’s what I’m hoping happens.”
Hunter Renfroe (7-for-21, three homers) has fared well against Bumgarner, who is 7-4 with a 2.61 ERA in 14 career starts versus Milwaukee.
Milwaukee will counter with right-hander Corbin Burnes (9-6, 2.84). He gave up five runs over six innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Monday.
Burnes, 27, had a 2.01 ERA in five starts in July before posting a 4.81 ERA in six August outings covering 33 2/3 innings.
The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has a franchise-record 20 career double-digit strikeout games, including eight this season.
Burnes earned a 2-0 win in his only career outing versus Arizona on June 6, 2021, when he recorded 13 strikeouts over seven innings.
Milwaukee likely will be without outfielder Christian Yelich for the second straight game. He sat out Friday due to neck discomfort and is listed as day-to-day.
–Field Level Media
