Brewers go for big road series win, and Jackson Chourio is back!
In Friday evening’s first game of the series, the Milwaukee Brewers grabbed a nice, complete victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in a clash of the teams with the best record in each league. Freddy Peralta was excellent, and Milwaukee rode a big inning and a couple of add-on runs to a convincing victory. Today, they’ll look to take the series in a matchup between Quinn Priester and Toronto’s Kevin Gausman, and they’ll also welcome back one of their key offensive pieces a little over a month after his last game.
Priester’s last start was pushed back a couple of days because of a mild wrist injury, but he’s set to go this afternoon. He’ll take the mound today going for his 12th win, which would make him one of just seven National League pitchers to reach that mark so far this season. Priester’s last outing was an inefficient one, but he got results: on 95 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, he allowed just one run on three hits to the Cubs in a 4-1 victory. But Priester’s bugaboo in that game was walks: he walked five batters, more than in any other start this season.
Gausman, who is 34, has been one of the better pitchers in baseball over the last five or so years but has tailed off a bit in the past two seasons. He’s still solid: this season Gausman has pitched to a 3.87 ERA (111 ERA+) and 3.77 FIP and he’s in the top 20 in the league in innings pitched with 153 2/3. But Gausman isn’t striking out as many batters as he was during his peak years (he led the AL with 11.5 K/9 in 2023, a year in which he finished third in Cy Young voting), and the results have tailed off a bit.
On offense, the Brewers will finally welcome back Jackson Chourio, who last played on July 29th. The team promptly went on a 14-game winning streak after losing him, but the last couple weeks have made clear that his bat will be needed down the stretch. Chourio was on a heater when his hamstring injury took him out of the lineup: in July, he hit .367/.408/.600 with four homers and seven doubles in 23 games. In his return, he’ll slot right back into that number two spot in the batting order, behind Brice Turang and in front of Christian Yelich and William Contreras.
To make room on the roster for Chourio, the Brewers optioned Brandon Lockridge to Triple-A Nashville. They also made one other move today that doesn’t immediately affect the big-league team: Robert Gasser completed his rehab assignment with five innings in Nashville, and today the team activated him from the 60-day IL but optioned him, so he’ll stay in Triple-A for now. He’ll be an option when rosters expand to 28 on Monday. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Brewers designated Oliver Dunn for assignment. All our best to Dunn, an intriguing player who just didn’t work out in Milwaukee.
Today’s first pitch is just after 2 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.
Category: General Sports
