The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers wrap up a brief two-game Interleague series on Tuesday night. The two battled for 10 innings on Monday before Houston took the 3-2 win.
Cruising Along
The Astros are now 90-49 after claiming the win in Milwaukee in the series opener. They are in first place in the AL West, 10.5 games in front of the Oakland A’s. The Astros are on the road for this series, but they are 39-32 in away games this year.
Houston is 3-2 over its last five games including Justin Verlander’s no-hitter on Sunday. With the Brewers falling off hard this season after a strong start, the Astros are the favorite in this series.
The Astros have been dominant all season long and are tied with the Yankees and Dodgers for the most wins in the league. They are 8-2 over their last 10 games and show no signs of slowing down as we near the postseason.
Getting the start for the Astros in this game is veteran Zack Greinke. Greinke did not factor into the decision on Thursday against Tampa Bay when he gave up five runs over 5 2/3 innings. Although his last outing was not his best, Greinke will be searching for his 15th win of the season against the Brewers to begin rounding out what has been another very solid year.
Greinke is currently 14-4 this season with a 2.99 ERA and 158 strikeouts. The Astros’ pitching staff has been their backbone all season long and look to make another deep playoff run.
Leading the Astros from the batter’s box have been Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, and Yuli Gurriel. Gurriel leads the team with 97 runs batted in, while Brantley has the best batting average with .327. Bregman has a team-leading 32 home runs.
Fading Fast
The Brewers are 70-67 this season, seven games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. Milwaukee was right in the mix with the Cubs and Cardinals all season in the division until the Brewers have fallen off recently.
The Brewers’ best chance to make the playoffs now is to get into a Wild Card spot, but they are currently four games out. They are sitting behind the Nationals, Cubs, Phillies, and Diamondbacks.
Getting the start for the Brewers in this game is Jordan Lyles. The 28-year-old stuck out nine batters and allowed just one run over 5 1/3 innings to beat the red-hot Cardinals on Wednesday. He has now allowed just one run over his last 11 1/3 innings.
Lyles is now 9-8 this season with a 4.55 ERA and 122 strikeouts. Between him and Grienke, this should make for a good pitching matchup in Milwaukee.
The Brewers currently have five different players on the IL, including their veteran centerfielder Lorenzo Cain, who is listed as day-to-day with a knee injury and missed the first game of the series.
It comes as no surprise that leading the Brewers is last year’s NL MVP, Christian Yelich. Yelich currently leads the team in home runs, runs batted in and batting average. The rightfielder and 2019 MVP candidate has 43 home runs, a .326 batting average and 93 RBI this season.
What To Expect
As I said before, this should be a good pitching matchup resulting in a low-scoring game. Both guys on the mound have been successful all season, and Lyles has been on fire of late. Typically, I would side with Lyles in this one, especially with the Brewers at home, but I think Grienke and the Astros will be just too much to handle, and the Astros will win this in another close, low-scoring game.
