Brewers welcome Rockies, bigger crowds for three-game series
With their ballpark ready for full capacity, the Milwaukee Brewers aim to avoid their longest home losing streak of the season.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies look to win back-to-back road games for the first time in 2021.
After splitting a four-game set at Colorado last weekend, the Brewers and Rockies open a three-game series in front of a potentially packed house in Milwaukee on Friday.
The Brewers won four of the last five to complete a 4-3 road trip. That included two consecutive victories at Colorado.
"We just have to continue trying to play good baseball and keep putting ourselves in position to win to stay in the thick of things," Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff told the club's official website.
Having a full ballpark for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, on what the franchise and city are branding "Re-Opening Day," would provide some obvious momentum for Milwaukee, which was swept over three games by Cincinnati in its most recent home series from June 14-16. The Brewers totaled four runs through that set, which followed a seven-game home winning streak during which they averaged 5.7 runs.
The Rockies, meanwhile, yielded four total runs while splitting a two-game set at Seattle this week. At 6-28, Colorado has the fewest road wins in the majors, but is coming off a 5-2 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday. It last won consecutive road contests Sept. 5-6, 2020, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"We have to start winning on the road," Rockies pitcher German Marquez, like his teammates all season, repeated to the team's official website.
Jon Gray (4-6, 4.29 ERA) is slated to come off the disabled list from a forearm flexor strain to make his first start since June 4. It's been a rough season for the right-hander, who is 0-4 with a 6.35 ERA in five starts since last posting a victory on May 5. Gray's also 0-4 with a 6.75 ERA on the road in 2021.
He's 1-1 with a 5.90 ERA in five starts against Brewers, but last faced them in 2019. Milwaukee star Christian Yelich is a career .368 hitter (7-for-19) with three doubles and a homer versus Gray.
Yelich went 5-for-14 with five walks in last week's series at Colorado. Riding a seven-game hitting streak, teammate Luis Urias was 7-for-15 with two doubles and a homer during the Rockies' series.
The Brewers will turn to Corbin Burnes (3-4, 2.62 ERA), who faces the Rockies for a second straight start after allowing four runs, eight hits, two walks and striking out six over 5 1-3 innings of a 6-5, 10-inning defeat last Friday. In his last two starts, the right-hander has yielded seven earned runs, 17 hits and walked five over 9 1-3 innings.
Colorado's Raimel Tapia is 3-for-4 all-time versus Burnes and batted .438 during an 18-game hitting streak that ended Wednesday. Rockies star Trevor Story homered twice Wednesday and is batting .382 with nine RBIs in his last nine games.
Story, however, is 1-for-6 against Burnes during his career.
--Field Level Media
