The Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals open a three-game set in the nation’s capitol tonight, three weeks after the Nats swept the Brewers in three games in Milwaukee. The Brewers will obviously be looking for different results this weekend, and they’ll get things started tonight by sending Jacob Misiorowski to the mound to take on Washington’s Jake Irving.
But first, we’ll cover today’s roster news: after the concerning dip in velocity that forced the Brewers to remove Brandon Woodruff after just 1 1/3 innings on Thursday, he’s been placed on the 15-day injured list. The news, though, is mostly encouraging. You can see Woodruff talk about what happened yesterday at the link, but imaging revealed nothing more than minor inflammation and nothing major appears to be an issue. Woodruff doesn’t sound like a guy who expects to be out long, so considering how alarming Thursday’s game was, it’s pretty close to a best-case scenario. Woodruff will be replaced for now on the roster by Easton McGee, but expect someone else (Logan Henderson?) when Woodruff’s rotation spot comes up in a few days.
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We also got a small update on Luis Peña, who collapsed in the dugout during the eighth inning of the Timber Rattlers’ game on April 22nd. Matt Arnold told reporters that all tests on Peña, who hasn’t played since then, have come back normal, though he is scheduled to see a neurologist on Monday. The fact that all the tests have been normal is encouraging, though his visit to see a neurologist suggests that the Brewers are going to make darn sure that there’s nothing wrong with him before letting him get back on a baseball field.
As for tonight’s starter, Misiorowski’s last start continued a season-long trend: he’s pitched quite well and showed some real signs of progress, but hasn’t quite been able to put together a full-length, dominant start yet. Against the Pirates in Milwaukee on Saturday, Miz struck out nine and walked only one, but the Pirates got him for three runs, all of which came in innings in which he plunked the leadoff hitter. The Brewers lost that game in ten innings. Miz missed the Nationals when they were in Milwaukee (and didn’t face them last year), so it’ll be the first time that Washington gets the experience of facing one of the most electric starters in the league.
Washington counters with the 29-year-old right-hander Jake Irvin, who faced the Brewers on April 10th. Washington won that game, but Irvin didn’t factor into the decision; he was wild and walked five batters in that game, but allowed only two hits and was able to limit the damage to three runs in five innings. Irvin had his best start of the season his last time out against the White Sox, when he allowed no runs on four hits and no walks while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings. The bullpen blew Washington’s lead, but they won in extras. For the season, Irvin has a 4.85 ERA but more encouraging 4.11 FIP, and he’s striking out 10.3 batters per nine innings, a career high by far.
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Milwaukee’s streak of not using the same batting lineup twice yet this season continues today, as Blake Perkins comes in for Greg Jones in left field. Garrett Mitchell, Brice Turang, and William Contreras remain at the top of the lineup.
Sort of an odd start time tonight, as first pitch comes at 5:45 p.m. central time. The game can be found, as usual, on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.
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