The Milwaukee Brewers started the second half like they ended the first, with a victory.
The Brewers will put an eight-game winning streak on the line Saturday against the host Los Angeles Dodgers.
Right-hander Freddy Peralta (11-4, 2.66 ERA) will take the mound for the Brewers on a run of six wins in as many starts. One of the six came at home against the Dodgers on July 7 when he delivered six scoreless innings on five hits with seven strikeouts.
Peralta closed out the first half by allowing one run on three hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
A National League All-Star for the second time, Peralta did not pitch in the game on Tuesday.
“He’s been here so many years, you don’t want to say, ‘Hey, he’s coming into his own,’” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Peralta. “But he’s taken that other step and found the consistency that big-time pitchers do.”
In seven career starts against the Dodgers, Peralta is 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA. In two starts at Los Angeles, however, his ERA stands at 4.50.
In the Brewers’ 2-0 victory over the Dodgers on Friday, Quinn Priester had 10 strikeouts and Caleb Durbin hit a home run with an RBI double. Christian Yelich had a single to extend his on-base streak to 25 games.
The Dodgers will counter with right-hander Emmet Sheehan (1-0, 2.03), who will be making his fourth major-league appearance and third start since returning from Tommy John surgery.
Last Saturday at San Francisco, Sheehan followed a three-inning start by Shohei Ohtani by allowing one run on two hits over 4 1/3 innings of relief to pick up his first win since September 2023.
“I think the past few weeks, it’s just been all kind of coming together a little bit,” Sheehan said after his win ended the Dodgers’ seven-game losing streak.
Saturday’s start is lining up as Sheehan’s audition to remain in the rotation. Veteran left-hander Blake Snell is due back from a shoulder injury soon, but the Dodgers need to lighten the workload on starter Dustin May, who has returned from his own Tommy John procedure.
Los Angeles managed to end a seven-game losing streak just before the break, but the offensive issues that plagued them during the downturn were present again Friday.
The Dodgers had just three hits in their return from the break and were held without a run for the first time since June 6 at St. Louis. They have been shut out five times this season.
“I don’t know if it is a concern. It’s one of those perfect storms in the sense that some guys haven’t been swinging the bats well and you’re running into good pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But tomorrow is a new day and we have to reset and be ready because those guys aren’t going to feel sorry for us, and (Peralta) is an All-Star.”
Freddie Freeman reached base on a double and a walk for Los Angeles after he went into the break with a .203 batting average and one home run in 37 games since June 1. The double was Freeman’s 534th, tying him with Lou Gehrig for 42nd all-time.