St. Louis @ Milwaukee preview
American Family Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 4, 2021 ) St. Louis 0, Milwaukee 4
Corbin Burnes will try to sustain his late-season roll on Sunday when the Milwaukee Brewers host the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a three-game series.
The Cardinals (69-65) won 15-4 on Friday night in Milwaukee and the Brewers (83-54) responded with a 4-0 victory the following night for their fifth victory in their past seven games.
Burnes (9-4, 2.27 ERA) was 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in five August starts. He defeated the San Francisco Giants 3-1 in his most recent outing after allowing one run on four hits while striking out nine over six innings.
"I think he was more thinking through me, rather than trying to throw as hard as he can." catcher Omar Narvaez said. "Corbin made things easier by throwing strikes and being ahead of almost every hitter he faced. Corbin can be really dangerous when he's ahead."
Burnes is 1-1 with a 0.53 ERA in three starts against the Cardinals this season. He is 2-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 10 career outings (seven starts) versus St. Louis.
Paul Goldschmidt (7-for-15, double, homer, two RBIs), Tommy Edman (4-for-11, three walks, triple) and Paul DeJong (4-for-13, double, homer, four RBIs) have fared well against Burnes, while Tyler O'Neill (0-for-9, seven strikeouts) and Harrison Bader (0-for-7, five strikeouts) have not.
The Cardinals will start Jon Lester (5-6, 5.05), who is coming off of back-to-back strong performances. He allowed one run on one hit in 6 1/3 innings in a 3-1 win at Cincinnati on Monday.
Lester has become more efficient since coming to the Cardinals in a trade from the Washington Nationals.
"Credit to Jon Lester. You've got to be able to make adjustments in life," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said.
"I can't do what I used to do," Lester said. "I had to come to realization with that."
Lester has faced the Brewers twice this season, once for the Nationals and once for the Cardinals. He allowed five runs on 11 hits and three walks in a pair of no-decisions.
He is 5-4 with a 3.30 ERA in 15 career starts against the Brewers.
Lester has had problems with Luis Urias (5-for-8, triple, RBI), Pablo Reyes (5-for-10, two doubles, triple, two RBIs), Christian Yelich (10-for-27) and Lorenzo Cain (12-for-34, four doubles).
The Brewers reinstated reliever Jandel Gustave from the COVID-19 list and recalled reliever Miguel Sanchez from Triple-A Nashville on Saturday. They placed reliever Justin Topa on the 60-day IL with a serious elbow injury and demoted Hoby Milner to Nashville.
"This September is different in that you don't just have this unlimited roster of pitchers to go to," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "With that in mind we're still trying to cautious with some of our guys and cognizant of where they're at in a long seasons. We're going to keep trying to get fresh guys that cover innings."
Shortstop Willy Adames aggravated his sore quadriceps muscle running to first base Saturday night. Counsell wasn't sure if he will need to miss games.
"We'll kind of evaluate him (on Sunday) and see what it looks like," Counsell said. "We haven't made that evaluation yet. We'll give him overnight."
--Field Level Media