Game Thread #98: Milwaukee Brewers (55-42) @ Minnesota Twins (54-42)

Welcome back for the first game thread in nearly a week! The Milwaukee Brewers open their “second half” (they’re actually about 60% of the way through their schedule) this evening in downtown Minneapolis with the first of two games against the Minnesota Twins. You might call the Twins the “Brewers of the American League,” another Midwestern smaller-market team with a nearly identical record.

Both teams will send pitchers to the mound who were expected to be their team’s best but have been at least moderately disappointing. For Milwaukee, Freddy Peralta had a Jekyll-and-Hyde first half. He was sometimes excellent but frequently struggled with inefficiency, a lack of pinpoint control, and an inability to put away hitters. Still, he has some of the best strikeout numbers among the league’s starting pitchers (he’s fifth among qualified starters with 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings) and he’s on pace for a career-high in innings pitched, but his 4.11 ERA (103 ERA+) is certainly somewhat disappointing, even if his FIP (3.69) suggests some bad luck is involved.

Speaking of bad luck, Minnesota’s Pablo López comes in with a higher-than-usual-but-still-pretty-good 3.84 FIP, while his 5.11 ERA is the worst of his career (and the only season above 3.75 since his first full season as a 23-year-old in 2019). While López’s walk and strikeout rates are in line with his career totals (even a little better—his 5.26 K:BB ratio is the best of his career), his home runs are up (1.6 per nine innings) and Minnesota’s defense hasn’t done him any favors.

Against the righty López, Brice Turang will lead off, with Christian Yelich (as the DH), Sal Frelick, and Garrett Mitchell all in the lineup. Jackson Chourio is tonight’s left fielder. The Twins are dealing with depth issues in their infield: Carlos Correa was just placed on the IL, where he joins Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda, and Kyle Farmer. Edouard Julien, who was the Twins’ opening-day second baseman but was sent back to the minors at the beginning of June, is back in Correa’s place and starting at second base today.

First pitch this evening is at 6:10 p.m. on Bally Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.