The Milwaukee Brewers will look to bounce back behind veteran left-hander Wade Miley when they host the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night in the middle game of their three-game series.
Miley (2-1, 1.50 ERA) will be opposed by right-hander Garrett Whitlock (1-1, 4.50).
Boston rallied for a 5-3 victory in the series opener on Friday night for their sixth win in eight games. Milwaukee was returning home after going 7-3 on a long western road trip.
The Red Sox converted three two-out walks into their final three runs. Alex Verdugo had a two-run homer and Nick Pivetta allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings. Josh Winckowski followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings and Kenley Jansen finished with a perfect ninth for his fifth save.
Jansen’s save was the 396th of his career, moving him past Craig Kimbrel into seventh place all-time. Jansen, who had 41 saves in 48 opportunities last season with Atlanta, has not allowed a run in seven innings this season.
“His stuff is a lot better than what we saw probably last year and the year before,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He works hard, man. He’s so, quote-unquote, perfect. He’s here early working on his craft, the cutter and the action of the pitches and all that. He wants to win. He made a commitment with us, and right now it’s paying off.”
Rowdy Tellez continued his hot hitting for Milwaukee with a solo homer, his sixth homer of the year. Tellez is 10-for-28 (.357) with four homers, 10 RBIs and five walks over his past eight games to raise his average from .147 to .242.
Tellez had a career-high 35 homers and 89 RBIs last season but hit just .219.
“I think Rowdy’s going to go through stretches like this,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He got off to a little bit of a slow start the first five or six games, and then he’s been swinging the bat good and having very good at-bats, something we’re obviously going to need in the middle of the lineup.”
Miley, who also pitched for Milwaukee in 2018, has not allowed a run in two of his three starts. In his most recent outing, he allowed four hits over seven shutout innings in a 1-0 victory at San Diego on Sunday.
Miley has struck out 14 in 18 innings, with just three walks. Opponents are batting .206 against Miley, who has given up just one homer.
He is 3-2 with a 5.34 ERA in six career starts against the Red Sox. He last faced Boston in 2019 when he was with Houston.
Whitlock allowed one run on three hits over seven innings in his last start, a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. In his first start, he gave up three homers in five innings in a road loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on April 11.
Whitlock has faced the Brewers just once, tossing two scoreless innings in relief last season.
Milwaukee rookie center fielder Garrett Mitchell is likely to need surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder and might miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed more significant damage than originally thought.
Mitchell hurt his labrum when he dove into third base during Milwaukee’s extra-inning win at Seattle on Tuesday. MLB.com reported Mitchell will visit noted orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday and could have surgery as soon as Tuesday.
Mitchell is hitting .259 with three home runs and six RBIs in 16 games this season.
—Field Level Media
