Game Thread #110: Milwaukee Brewers (62-47) @ Washington Nationals (49-61)

Civale looks to continue strong run

After Frankie Montas made his Brewers debut last night, tonight’s game features their other recent pitching addition in Aaron Civale.

After a rough debut for the Brewers, Civale has been put together a few strong starts with a 3.38 ERA over his last three outings. Although it’s a small sample, his groundball rate has spiked in those games, coinciding with a slight adjustment in his pitch mix. He’s throwing his cutter and sinker a bit more often recently. Whenever a pitcher changes teams, the pitch mix is always a curious note to see how the team wants to utilize his talents.

Jackson Chourio takes the leadoff job today, and deservedly so. Since the All-Star break, Chourio’s .370 batting average and .630 slugging percentage both lead all Brewers hitters with at least 30 at-bats.

Along with Chourio, Blake Perkins and Sal Frelick are tagging along for the outfield platoon. Perkins has been much more reliable at the plate since the start of July, making contact 83% of the time, compared to his season mark of 75%. While he doesn’t make crushing, powerful contact all that often, his recent adjustments in plate discipline have led to a .435 on-base percentage since July 1.

The infield takes on its familiar look, starting with Willy Adames and Brice Turang up the middle. Joey Ortiz and Rhys Hoskins are at third base and first base, respectively. Ortiz has been in quite a funk lately, but it might just be a matter of time before he locks in again. His line drive rate has tanked, but he’s still making frequent contact, including a 96.1% in-zone contact rate since the All-Star break. Once he finds some rhythm again, his offensive form won’t be far off.

William Contreras will be the catcher with Gary Sanchez slotting in at designated hitter. Sanchez wasn’t available for much of July, but his seven home runs still ranks seventh on the team.

For the Nationals, rookie DJ Herz takes the mound. He’s been up and down between the majors, but he offers some high strikeout upside at the expense of giving up a lot of hard contact. He ranks in the 88th percentile in whiff rate, but a dismal 5th percentile in barrel rate, according to Baseball Savant.

First pitch is at 3:05 p.m. and is available on Bally Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.