The San Francisco Giants will be looking to wrap up a successful road trip with a one-game stopover in Milwaukee on Monday, but it won’t be easy.
The Brewers will send right-hander Corbin Burnes (1-0, 2.37 ERA), the reigning Cy Young Award winner, to the mound, while the Giants counter with left-hander Sam Long (0-0, 0.00).
The Giants’ single-game stop in Milwaukee is one of three rescheduled games from a series that was postponed due to the delayed start of the season following the lockout. The other two games from that series will be made up in a doubleheader on Sept. 8.
San Francisco continues home for a two-game series against Oakland that starts on Tuesday, while the Brewers turn around and head to Pittsburgh for three games.
Milwaukee edged Philadelphia 1-0 on Sunday night on Christian Yelich’s ninth-inning sacrifice fly. The Brewers managed just one hit through eight innings, before singles by Jace Peterson and Andrew McCutchen. Starter Eric Lauer struck out 13 in six innings and Josh Hader pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in eight chances. Hader has not allowed a run this season.
San Francisco topped Washington 12-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and improve to 7-3 heading into the final game of the 11-game road trip.
Joc Pederson, batting in the leadoff spot, opened the game with a homer and added a second home run along with a double to pace a 15-hit attack.
Pederson was in the lineup in place of Mike Yastrzemski, who was placed on the COVID-19 injured list Sunday. Yastrzemski, the first Giants player to test positive for COVID-19 this season, will remain in Washington for 10 days or until he records two negative tests. Yastrzemski is hitting .267 with one homer and three RBIs in 14 games this season.
“I think he set the tone for the day,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of Pederson, who hit the 24th leadoff homer of his career. “I think he’s picking really good pitches to go after and even when he gets deeper into counts and pitchers have velocity, he’s able to catch up to that velocity.”
The Giants have banged out 11 homers in the first 10 games of the road trip.
Burnes, making his fourth start, allowed just two singles through five scoreless innings in his last outing before giving up solo homers each of the next two innings in a 5-2 win over Pittsburgh. He struck out 10 and walked none in his season-high 107-pitch outing, his seventh career start of 10 or more strikeouts with no walks.
“I just thought he was crisp the whole night,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “I thought he was crisp in the seventh inning. There’s little things we look for and I thought he was still doing them really well. This was the best start of the year.”
Burnes is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in nine career appearances against San Francisco, including two starts. He was 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts vs. the Giants last season, allowing two earned runs in 13 innings.
Opponents are batting .169 against Burnes this season, 11 for 65 with three homers. Burnes was 4-4 with a 2.85 ERA in 15 starts last season at home, but 7-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 13 road starts.
Long allowed two hits in two scoreless innings in his first start of the season on Friday after three scoreless relief appearances. Long has never faced Milwaukee.
–Field Level Media
