Milwaukee @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 12, 2019 ) Milwaukee 2, San Francisco 4

The Milwaukee Brewers tested themselves this week against a World Series contender from the American League and showed off their power while earning a split. The Brewers will try to keep the homers coming when the road trip moves further west with a visit to the San Francisco Giants on Friday.

Milwaukee slugged three homers in a 10-8 loss at Houston on Tuesday and managed one more than that to overcome 24 strikeouts on Wednesday, capped by Mike Moustakas' two-run blast in the 14th inning, to earn a 6-3 win and stay in front of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. "Twenty-four punchouts isn't what we were looking for, but we got a W," Moustakas told reporters. "We turned a negative into a positive and found a way to win against a good ballclub over there." While Milwaukee leads the NL with 121 home runs, the Giants are sitting in 14th place in the senior circuit with 60 and rank last in the NL West despite sweeping a two-game set from the San Diego Padres this week. San Francisco left-hander Drew Pomeranz has surrendered 11 home runs in as many starts and will try to keep the Brewers in the park when he goes up against Milwaukee righty Zach Davies on Friday.

TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Zach Davies (7-0, 2.41 ERA) vs. Giants LH Drew Pomeranz (1-6, 7.16)

Davies picked up his seventh win in as many decisions when he held Pittsburgh to three runs and seven hits - one homer - over five innings on Saturday. The 26-year-old went eight innings in 107 pitches in his previous turn but needed 101 pitches to get through five frames in Saturday's outing. Davies faced San Francisco at home last September and scattered two runs along with six hits over five innings without factoring in the decision.

Pomeranz turned in his most encouraging outing in over a month when he yielded three hits and struck out seven over five scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday. The former All-Star did not complete six innings in any of his last six turns and was lit up for eight runs over 1 1/3 frames at struggling Baltimore on May 31 before picking things up last time out. Pomeranz last saw Milwaukee as a member of the Boston Red Sox on May 9, 2017 and was knocked around for six runs across four innings in that outing.

WALK-OFFS

1. Giants C Buster Posey (hamstring) was activated off the 10-day injured list on Wednesday and went 1-for-4 with a single.

2. Brewers LF Christian Yelich, who leads the majors with 25 homers, hit safely in each of the last 10 games to lift his batting average to .345.

3. San Francisco LHP Will Smith converted his 16th save in as many opportunities on Wednesday.

PREDICTION: Brewers 9, Giants 3