MILWAUKEE BREWERS NOTES:
BREWERS vs. CUBS
SUMMARY: Are 213-211 all-time, including 4-3 this season…..went 9-10 last season.
at MIL: Are 110-101 all-time, going 99-94 at American Family Field and 11-7 at County Stadium…..are 2-2 this season…..went 5-4 last season.
at CHI: Have gone 103-110 all-time at Wrigley Field, including 2-1 this season…..went 4-6 last season.
Today’s Transactions
RHP Adrian Houser was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow effusion…..RHP JB Bukauskas was recalled from Triple-A Nashville.
We’re Going Streaking!
Milwaukee is on an 8-game winning streak, its longest since winning 11 in a row from 6/22-7/3, 2021.
On the Offensive
The Brewers are averaging 7.25 runs per game during their 8-game winning streak, tops in the National League in that span (since Aug. 18)…..only Seattle and Tampa Bay (7.56) have averaged more runs in the majors.
Climbing the Charts
The Brewers (73-57) improved to a season-high 16 games over .500 with yesterday’s win…..it marks the first time the team is 16 games over .500 since finishing 2021 at 95-67.
How Sweep It Is
Milwaukee has swept three straight series in a single season for the first time since 9/24-10/1, 2018 (3g at STL, 3g vs. DET, 1g at CHC)…..it is the first time the Brewers have swept three straight series of at least 2 games in a season since 4/4-4/13, 2014 (3g at BOS, 3g at PHI, 3g vs. PIT).
Unfriendly Confines
The Brewers visit the second-place Cubs for a 3-game series beginning tonight…..including tonight’s game, the two teams will square off 6 more times this season.
Don’t Mess With Bill
Over his last 45 games, William Contreras is batting .321 (59-for-184) with 6 HR and 37 RBI and ranks among NL leaders in the following categories in this span (since July 2):
So Smooth
Carlos Santana is on an 8-game hitting streak, batting .355 (11-for-31
TONIGHT’S GAME: Is game 1 of 3-game road trip to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs….. the Brewers are on a season-high 8-game winning streak and are coming off a 5-0
homestand against Minnesota (2-0) and San Diego (3-0)…..following this series and an off day Thursday, the team returns home for a 3-game series against Philadelphia.
IN THE TRAINER’S ROOM: LHP Aaron Ashby (left labrum), RHP Adrian Houser (right elbow), RHP J.C. Mejía (right shoulder), OF Garrett Mitchell (left shoulder), OF Blake Perkins (left oblique), 1B Darin Ruf (right knee), RHP Julio Teheran (right hip), LHP Justin Wilson (left lat) and OF Jesse Winker (back) are on the injured list…..Ashby, Mitchell, Ruf and Wilson are on the 60-day IL.
SERIES-LY SPEAKING: The Brewers are 23-17-2 in series play.
Game 1: 22-20, Game 2: 24-18, Game 3: 23-17, Game 4: 4-2
Sweep Wins (9): vs. NYM (3g, 4/3-4/5), at SEA (3g, 4/17-4/19), vs. KC (3g, 5/12-5/14), vs. PIT (3g, 6/16-6/18), at CIN (3g, 7/14-7/16), at CWS (3g, 8/11-8/13),
at TEX (3g, 8/18-8/20), vs. MIN (2g, 8/22-8/23), vs. SD (3g, 8/25-8/27)
Sweep Losses (5): at COL (3g, 5/2-5/4), vs. OAK (3g, 6/9-6/11), at MIN (2g, 6/13-6/14), at ATL (3g, 7/28-7/30), at LAD (3g, 8/15-8/17)
ON THE ROAD: The Brewers are 35-30 on the road, going 11-10-0 in series play…..went 40-41 on the road last season, going 9-12-5 in series play.
LET’S GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE: The Brewers have made 27 replay challenges this season, going 11-16…..their last challenge (lost) came on 8/6 vs. Pittsburgh as an out
call at third base (William Contreras) stood.
TONIGHT’S STARTER: #20 – LHP WADE MILEY (17gs, 6-3, 3.18)
MILEY AT A GLANCE: Wade Miley, 36, is making his 18th start of the season and second against the Cubs…..Miley last started last Tuesday vs. Minnesota and received no decision in the Brewers’ 7-3 win (5ip, 5h, 3r, 3er, 1bb, 4k, 1hr, 89 pitches)…..the team is 10-7 in his starts…..he has 7 quality starts…..opponents are batting .235 (76-for-324, 11hr)…..Miley was on the 15-day injured list from 5/17-6/16 with a left lat strain and from 7/17-8/1, retroactive to 7/14, with left lbow discomfort…..he signed as a free agent with Milwaukee on January 9…..he is signed through the 2023 season with a mutual option for 2024.
WELCOME BACK!: Miley returned to Milwaukee, where he pitched in 2018 for the National League Central champions and went 5-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 16 starts…..he went on to make 4 starts during the postseason, posting a 1.23 ERA (14.2ip, 2er), as the team went on to advance to the seventh game of the NLCS against Los Angeles.
LAST SEASON: Miley went 2-2 with a 3.16 ERA in 9 games/8 starts with Chicago-NL last season…..he missed most of the season while spending time on the injured list on three occasions: 4/7-5/9 (left elbow inflammation), 5/29-6/9 (left shoulder strain) and 6/11-9/5 (left shoulder strain).
CAREER: Is 105-97 with a 4.08 ERA in 309 games/302 starts (1705.2ip, 773er)…..is in his 13th Major League season with Arizona (2011-14), Boston (2015), Seattle (2016), Baltimore (2016-17), Milwaukee (2018, ‘23), Houston (2019), Cincinnati (2020-21) and Chicago-NL (2022)…..was an All-Star with the Diamondbacks in 2012…..threw a no-hitter with the Reds on 5/7/21 at Cleveland…..Miley was selected by Arizona in the supplemental first round (43rd overall) of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft out of Southeastern Louisiana University.
CAREER AT AMERICAN FAMILY FIELD: Is 8-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 21 starts (102.2ip, 43er)…..is 4-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 9 starts this season (49ip, 18er).
CAREER ON THE ROAD: Is 50-52 with a 3.96 ERA in 163 games/161 starts (902ip, 397er)…..is 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA in 8 starts this season (38.2ip, 13er).
CAREER vs. CUBS: Is 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 17 starts (101ip, 45er), including a no-decision this season on 7/4 at American Family Field (5ip, 9h, 4r, 4er, 2bb, 4k, 1hr)…..is 3-1 with a 4.33 ERA in 6 career starts against the Cubs at Wrigley Field (35.1ip, 17er).
CHICAGO CUBS NOTES:
Cubs vs. Brewers
The Cubs and Brewers play four series totaling 13 games … the clubs met in Chicago on Opening Weekend, March 30-April 2, with Milwaukee taking two of three games, and split the four-game series in Milwaukee July 3-6 … the Cubs look for their second-straight season victory after losing in 2019 (9- 10) and 2021 (4-15) with a tie (5-5) in 2020.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Chicago Cubs tonight return home following a seven-game road trip to Detroit (2-1) and Pittsburgh (3-1) to face the Brewers for the first of three games between the top two teams in the N.L. Central … yesterday, Javier Assad earned his third win of the season as the Cubs defeated the Pirates 10-1 … Assad tied his career-high in innings (7.0) and recorded a career-high seven strikeouts in the outing … Cody Bellinger tallied a season-high five RBI, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored … Seiya Suzuki extended his hitting streak to a career-high 10-games with his third-straight multi-hit effort (2-3, 2 doubles, two walks, RBI, two runs scored).
Chicago is 10-1-1 in its last 11 series dating to July 17.
Today marks the 11th (7-3) of 13-straight gamedays through Aug. 30 … the Cubs had three off days in an eight-day span through Aug. 17.
The Cubs are 13-7 in their last 20 games, 16-8 in their last 24 and 27-11 in their last 38 games since July 18 … following play on July 20, the Cubs sat 7.0-games out of a wild-card spot and 8.5-games back of the division lead … the club enters today in the second wild card spot (0.5-game ahead of Arizona) and 4.0-games back of division-leading Milwaukee.
The Cubs are in a stretch of 11 games (2-2) against division rivals, that started on Aug. 24 at Pittsburgh and concludes with four games at Cincinnati Sept. 1-3, including a double-header on Sept. 1st.
DIVISION FOES: Chicago has played 39 games this season against N.L. Central teams, going 24-15 in those matchups … the Cubs .615 winning percentage against the division rivals is its highest against any division … what’s more, when comparing stats against each division, the Cubs hitters’ .280 batting average, .356 OBP, .459 slugging percentage and 6.4 runs per game against the N.L. Central are all top marks.
RING THE BELL-INGER: Cody Bellinger has driven in 16 runs in his last nine games dating to August 19, and has recorded 29 RBI in August and 53 RBI in 50 games since July 1 … Bellinger is the first Cub with at least 50 RBI in a 50-game span since Derrek Lee in 2009 … only seven Cubs have accomplished the feat in the last 50 years (since 1974): Bellinger, Lee, Aramis Ramírez (2005), Sammy Sosa (1995, 98-03), Henry Rodríguez (1999), Andre Dawson (1987) and Dave Kingman (1979).
SLAM THE DOOR: Adbert Alzolay has converted his last 17 save chances since July 5, the most in the majors during that stretch … the 17-straight converted save opportunities is the longest active streak in the N.L. and third-longest streak in the majors, trailing Toronto’s Jordan Romano (21) and Boston’s Kenley Jansen (20).
Starting Pitcher – #50 RHP Jameson Taillon (7-8, 5.60)
Last Time Out
Jameson received a no-decision Aug. 23 in Detroit … took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, marking the third time in his career that has has thrown at least 5.0-hitless innings to begin a game (last 7.0 IP, June 2, 2022 at Angels) … has a 6.08 ERA (18 ER/26.2 IP) in five starts August, after posting a 2.67 ERA (9 ER/30.1 IP) in five starts in July.
Jameson will make his 24th start of the season, his 13th at Wrigley Field and second against Milwaukee … has not won in three-straight starts after winning four-straight from July 23-Aug. 8 … his 12 career starts against the Brewers (3- 6, 3.75) are his second-most vs. an opponent in his career (St. Louis – 15) … has walked two or fewer in 20 of his 23 outings this season … his 33 walks are the eighth-fewest in the N.L. among pitchers with at least 20 starts. Aug. 23 in Detroit, took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, the third time in his career in which he has tossed at least 5.0-hitless innings to begin a game. From July 7-Aug. 8, went 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA (9 ER/37.1 IP) in six starts, tied for the fifth-lowest ERA in the majors during the run … allowed three or fewer runs in all six starts. Threw a season-high 109 pitches July 23 vs. the Cardinals … were his most since throwing 110 April 8, 2018, vs. the Reds while with the Pirates. Tossed 8.0, one-hit, scoreless innings in a 3-0 win July 7 at Yankee Stadium … was the first pitcher with at least 8.0 innings and one or fewer hits allowed on the road at Yankee Stadium since Baltimore’s Daniel Cabrera did so in 2006 … was also the first former Yankee to go a least 8.0 frames and allow no more than one hit in a game at Yankee Stadium (old or new). Made his first quality start as a Cub June 13 vs. Pittsburgh (3 ER/6.0 IP). Earned his first win as a Cub June 2 in San Diego (1 ER/5.2 IP) … had previously gone eight-straight starts without a win, the third time in his career that he had failed to win in at least eight-straight starts in the same season (last 9 G, April 14-May 27, 2018). Walked two or fewer batters in 16-straight starts from Aug. 14, 2022-May 9, 2023 … at the time, marked the fifth-longest active streak among major league starting pitchers. Began his stint on the 15-day injured list April 20 (retroactive to April 17) with a left groin strain … was activated on May 4. Went 2-0 with a 3.93 ERA (8 ER/18.1 IP) with 23 strikeouts, compared to no walks, during Spring Training … was the only pitcher in the Cactus League with at least 10.0 IP to not walk a batter.
