The injury-plagued Washington Nationals could use a win, and their starter Wednesday afternoon has not suffered a loss at Milwaukee since June 21, 2011.
Washington right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (2-0, 5.33) will start in the series finale against Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff (4-1, 4.71), who is 1-0 with a 0.71 in three games (one start) in his career against the Nationals.
The only start Woodruff made against the Nationals was in 2017 when he went seven innings and gave up just two hits and one run but did not figure in the decision.
The Brewers have taken the first two games of the series, scoring six runs in the last of the seventh Tuesday to snap a scoreless tie and win 6-0.
Washington has lost 13 of its last 18 games, while the Brewers have won 8 of 11.
“We need to cut down our strikeouts and put the ball in play,” Washington manager Dave Martinez told reporters after Tuesday’s loss. “Offensively, we didn’t get anything going.”
Current Brewers hitters are 34-for-120 (.283) against Hellickson. That includes Ryan Braun (5-for-14, .357), and Mike Moustakas, (2-for-15, .133).
Hellickson is 3-1 with a 4.26 ERA in seven starts against the Brewers. In his only start against them last season, Hellickson went five innings and gave up three runs and seven hits on July 24. He did not figure in the decision as the Brewers won 5-4.
On Tuesday, Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg had a shutout going into the seventh inning before the Brewers exploded against him and the bullpen.
“We’ve got to come out of the bullpen and we’ve got to throw strikes,” Martinez said.
The Brewers went with the “opener” on Tuesday as Adrian Houser got the nod. Freddy Peralta, who has struggled in the first inning, came on in the third inning and went five scoreless innings to get the win.
“But we don’t know if that’s the long-term answer for this,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said to reporters before Tuesday’s game. “It’s more of a short-term, quick fix-type thing. Other than that, he’s got to focus on making pitches. He has an elite pitch (four-seam fastball), but he has to locate it to get results.”
Before the game on Tuesday, the Nationals reinstated third baseman Anthony Rendon from the 10-day injured list. Rendon was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing strike three, and things fell apart for the Nationals after that.
The Nationals also recalled right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde from Double-A Harrisburg. The Las Vegas native was sent to Harrisburg last week and was converted to a reliever after spending most of his minor and major league career as a starter.
Washington rookie infielder Carter Kieboom, who was five-for-39 with 16 strikeouts and two homers, was sent back to Triple-A Fresno, while veteran lefty reliever Tony Sipp was put on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki had the ball bounce off the bat of a Brewer and hit his left ear Tuesday, but he stayed in the game. “He has a little cut. He’s tough,” Martinez said.
The Nationals’ skid has dropped them to 14-21, the first time they’ve been seven games below .500 since Sept. 18, 2011.