Brewers Look For Sweep
Following a marathon outing, the Milwaukee Brewers seek their sixth straight victory on Monday as they try to complete their first four-game sweep of the lowly Washington Nationals.
Milwaukee (67-51) squandered scoring chances in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings before reserve outfielder Gabe Kapler hit his first career walk-off homer in the 13th to complete a 5-4, come-from-behind victory over Washington (44-74) on Sunday. The Brewers didn’t record a hit through the first five innings.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Milwaukee -210 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 8 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 91% of bets for this game have been placed on Milwaukee -210 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
"We had opportunities to score there every inning," said Brewers manager Ned Yost, whose club went 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 16 on base. "We just couldn’t capitalize on it."
The Brewers, who lead St. Louis by three games for the NL wild card, were victorious despite the absence of Ryan Braun, who was sidelined by a lower-back injury.
The All-Star left fielder, who leads Milwaukee with 30 home runs and 84 RBIs, was hurt while swinging in the first inning of the Brewers’ 6-0 win over the Nationals on Saturday night. He remains listed day-to-day, and is unsure when he will return as the pain he is experiencing is persistent.
"Every time I laugh or sneeze or cough or roll over, it’s pretty uncomfortable," Braun told the Brewers’ official Web site.
Whether or not Braun is the lineup on Monday, Milwaukee will be trying take all four games versus Washington for the first time in the teams’ all-time series. The Brewers have won nine of the last 14 matchups with the Nationals, winning all three games against them from May 7-9, 2007 at Miller Park.
To secure a four-game sweep, Milwaukee hands the ball to Dave Bush (6-9, 4.50 ERA), who is 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA in six starts since winning back-to-back outings June 19 and 24.
He turned in a strong performance on Tuesday, yielding just one run and three hits, while fanning seven over seven innings of an 8-1 victory in Cincinnati – his first there in six tries.
"I just tried to be composed," Bush told the team’s site. "I kept my focus on what I was trying to do."
The right-hander has been solid at Miller Park thus far, going 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 11 games – eight of those resulting in Brewers’ wins.
Bush, who is 2-2 with a 3.47 ERA in four lifetime games against the Nationals, has won two straight starts against them.
His outing follows that of Milwaukee’s Manny Parra, who gave up a run and six hits, while striking out nine in seven innings on Sunday. Meanwhile, John Lannan held the Brewers to one run and one hit, while fanning six in six innings for the Nationals, owners of the worst record in the majors.
Lastings Milledge homered and drove in two runs, while Austin Kearns hit a two-run homer for Washington, which ended a string of 27 scoreless innings.
The Nationals send Garrett Mock (0-2, 4.91) to the mound for the finale. The right-hander, who was called up from Triple-A Columbus on Thursday, walked two in an inning of relief during a loss at Milwaukee on Friday.
Mock is starting for the Nationals for the first time since June 21, when he gave up four runs and eight hits, but walked eight in six innings of a 13-3 home loss to Texas.
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