Milwaukee’s William Contreras will aim to extend his torrid hitting stretch when the Brewers visit the Washington Nationals for the second game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon.
Contreras had four hits and drove in three runs in the Brewers’ 6-1 win on Friday. That performance came after he collected four hits and four RBIs on Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 13-1 romp.
Contreras became the first player in Brewers history to have four hits in back-to-back games since Casey McGehee in 2010, and just the seventh all-time.
Over his past four games, Contreras is 10-for-17 with a home run, nine RBIs and six runs and has raised his batting average to .310.
Stopping Contreras will fall to Washington’s top starter thus far, Foster Griffin (3-0, 2.67 ERA), who will oppose Kyle Harrison (2-1, 2.28) in a matchup of left-handers.
The 30-year-old Griffin has allowed one earned run or less in three of his five starts. Last time out, he tossed seven shutout innings Sunday in a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox. He gave up two hits while striking out eight and walking two in a game Milwaukee won 2-1 in 10 innings.
“I really had a good sweeper today, really good changeup to the righties, and my cutter to both sides,” Griffin said after the game. “I feel like I was able to cut it away, cut it in, and then I could go soft away with pretty good command on my changeup to keep them off balance.”
Griffin defeated the Brewers on April 11, tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing one hit in the 3-1 game.
Harrison has allowed two runs or less in each of his five starts. In his most recent outing, he threw six scoreless innings of one-hit baseball to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 last Sunday. Harrison struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked one. He retired the final seven hitters he faced, five via strikeout.
“That was a great day, but I can’t take that with me into the next one,” Harrison said. “You have to re-start.”
Harrison is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in four career starts vs. Washington.
Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski was working on a gem Friday before leaving with a right hamstring cramp. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out eight, walked two and retired the last 12 batters he faced, the final four by strikeout.
“He pitched great for 5 1/3, and then he cramped,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ll see where it is tomorrow. We’re very hopeful.”
Tyler Black had two doubles for Milwaukee, which has won four of its past five games.
Daylen Lile broke up Misiorowski’s no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk.
“We’ve faced some really good arms,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “I think we’ve faced some number ones, and I think we’ve had some success against them. This just felt different. None of the guys we faced before were 102 [miles per hour] multiple times and sitting 101.”
The Nationals are only 3-11 at home this season, and the Brewers are 7-6 on the road.
–Field Level Media
