Milwaukee @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 3, 2011 ) Milwaukee 8, Houston 2
THE STORY: Who needs Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun when you have Craig Counsell and George Kottaras? Fielder and Braun let some of their teammates have the glory on Saturday as the Milwaukee Brewers cruised to a win and maintained their 8 1/2-game lead in the National League Central. The Houston Astros are all about finding the positives at this point, despite being on a collision course with 100 losses. There are several things to celebrate with the Astros, their play against the Brewers just doesn’t happen to be on the list. Milwaukee will be looking to complete a three-game sweep when it sends Shaun Marcum to the mound in the finale Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
TV: 2:05 p.m. ET, FSWI (Milwaukee), my20 (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros LH Wandy Rodriguez (10-9, 3.43 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Shaun Marcum (11-5, 3.24 ERA).
Rodriguez struck out a career-high 13 batters while allowing three runs in seven innings to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates last Monday. The veteran lefthander has traded strong outings with duds the past month, posting a 1.29 ERA in three wins and a 5.82 mark in three other turns. Rodriguez went eight scoreless innings in a no-decision against Milwaukee on April 30 and owns a 7-7 record with a 3.75 ERA against the Brewers in 20 career appearances - 19 starts.
Marcum has had a tough time finding the win column lately despite some strong performances. He is just 1-2 in his last five starts despite a 1.87 ERA. The righthander was charged with a pair of unearned runs in taking a loss against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. Marcum tossed seven scoreless innings to earn a win at Houston on April 29.
ABOUT THE ASTROS (47-92): Houston is now within eight setbacks of its first 100-loss campaign, thanks in part to a 3-11 record against the first-place Brewers. The franchise record for losses is 97, set in 1965 and matched in 1975 and 1991. But the Astros have seen some positives this season in individual players like Bud Norris, who made his career-high 28th start on Saturday. He suffered the loss but struck out five more to give him 166 punchouts on the season. More recent callups like J.D. Martinez, Jose Altuve and Jimmy Paredes continue to hover around .300 in regular playing time.
ABOUT THE BREWERS (83-57): Kottaras became the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season on Saturday. He belted a solo homer in the fourth inning, tripling in the sixth, hitting an RBI single in the seventh and capping it with a ground-rule double in the ninth. The completion of the franchise’s first cycle since Jody Gerut on May 8, 2010, overshadowed Counsell, who at 41 years old hit his first homer of the year in the sixth. The veteran utility man entered the contest with a slugging percentage of just .197. Fielder quietly picked up two more RBIs, pulling into a tie with the New York Yankees’ Curtis Granderson for the major league lead at 107. Milwaukee has bounced back nicely after being swept by the Cardinals at home and will get another chance to put the division away when it visits St. Louis on Monday.
FINAL PITCH: The Brewers gave prospect Taylor Green his first start on Saturday and were rewarded with a 2-for-4 performance that included Green’s first career RBI. Green had made two previous pinch-hitting appearances since being recalled, singling in both at-bats.