NL GAME OF THE DAY: BREWERS (44-30) HOST CARDINALS (38-35)

steemsports (80)in #steemsports • 6 years ago

SteemSports Presenter:@thesportsguy

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In today's National League Game of the Day, the Milwaukee Brewers host the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a four-game weekend series from Miller Park. It was the Brew Crew taking care of business last night, as they routed the redbirds 11-3 in the series opener. They got 2 hits a piece from Eric Thames, Lorenzo Cain, Travis Shaw, Jesus Aguilar, and Manny Pina and each drove in at least 1 run as the bats were well awake for this one. The Cardinals defense was apparently still sleeping on the plane however, as they committed 4 errors in the game that led to 6 unearned runs. Normally a sound defensive squad, the Cardinals struggled from the get-go as they surrendered an error and a wild pitch in the 3rd inning that helped the Brewers jump out to a 4-1 lead.

Then it was a pair of errors by St. Louis second-baseman Jedd Gyorko in the 7th inning that led to 4 more runs by the Brew Crew to put the game out of reach. The win put the Brewers at 5-3 in their last 8 games as they continue to sit atop the National League Central just ahead of the Cubs. St. Louis will send right-hander Jack Flaherty to the mound to try and quell their recent skid as they've went just 2-6 in their past 8 games. He's 3-2 on the season with a 2.66 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings pitched.

Milwaukee will send out right-hander Junior Guerra to counter, who has been a stellar starter all season thus far for the Brewers. He's just 3-5, but has a 2.89 ERA on the season, with 67 k's in 71 2/3 innings pitched. The Brew Crew have lost each of his last 3 starts, despite the fact that he went at least 5 innings in each outing, and didn't allow more than 3 runs in each. Milwaukee will need better run support in this one, as they've supplied Guerra with just 5 runs combined in those previous 3 starts.

Travis Shaw is heating up for Milwaukee and leads the team in HRs with 14 and RBI with 47. Jesus Aguilar is tied alongside Shaw in both categories, with 14 HRs and 47 RBI as well, and has produced a .301 average thus far in 193 at-bats. Christian Yelich has settled in nicely after coming over from Miami this past offseason and leads the team with a .295/.370/.463 slash-line. Lorenzo Cain is also hitting .294 and gives the team a threat on the base-paths with 16 stolen bases.

Meanwhile for the Cardinals, Jose Martinez leads the club in most offensive categories, including batting average (.308), RBI (44), on-base % (.376), slugging (.496), and hits (77). Matt Carpenter leads the way in long-balls with 13, as he started the scoring in last night's game with a solo home run in the first. Marcell Ozuna is next best at .279, as the Cardinals have just 3 regulars in their lineup hitting above .262. They will look to get to the bats going and attempt to makeup for their recent pitching woes (51 runs allowed in their past 8 games). Look for a great matchup later today from Miller Park, as Milwaukee looks to stay atop the National League, and St. Louis looks to stay in the thick of things in a jumbled, difficult NL Central.

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