Chicago @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 28, 2011 ) Chi. Cubs 2, Milwaukee 4
THE STORY: The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs open a three-game series at Miller Park on Friday heading in drastically different directions. While the Brewers received a day off Thursday and lead the NL Central by 9 1/2 games, the Cubs committed four errors in an 8-3 home loss to the Atlanta Braves. Chicago dropped three of four in the series, ending a modest turnaround. Milwaukee has won 18 of its last 21 at home and is an incredible 47-16 at Miller Park this season.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FSN, WGN
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers LH Randy Wolf (10-8, 3.45 ERA) vs. Cubs RH Rodrigo Lopez (4-4, 4.97 ERA)
Milwaukee has won Wolf’s last five starts, but he yielded five earned runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings to the New York Mets in his last outing. In 21 career starts against the Cubs, Wolf is 5-10 with a 4.15 ERA.
Lopez looks to bounce back from a terrible outing in which he allowed four homers and 10 hits over 5 1/3 innings to the St. Louis Cardinals. His location was terrible. Lopez has faced Milwaukee twice this season, both June relief appearances. Batters are hitting .303 against him.
ABOUT THE BREWERS (78-54): With 100 RBIs, first baseman Prince Fielder has joined Cecil Cooper as the only players in franchise history to post four 100-RBI seasons. Outfielder Ryan Braun is 15 RBIs shy of entering that exclusive club. The Brewers own an MLB-best ERA of 2.63 over 37 games since July 17. Lefty starter Chris Narveson, who defeated the Pirates on Monday, won’t start again until Sept. 3 at Houston because of off days in the schedule. He’ll be in the bullpen until then. Outfielder Carlos Gomez, who is on the disabled list since July 21 with a broken left clavicle, will be examined by team doctors Friday in hopes of starting a minor-league rehab assignment Saturday.
ABOUT THE CUBS (57-74): Third baseman Aramis Ramirez is hitting .537 (29-for-54) during his 14-game hitting streak. He has seven walks, nine runs, four doubles, four homers, 14 RBIs and 10 multi-hit games during the run. The Cubs are 21-22 in one-run games this season after going 22-32 in that category last year. They haven’t had a winning record in one-run games since 2008.
FINAL PITCH: Milwaukee leads the season series 6-4. The teams will also play Sept. 19-21 at Wrigley Field.