The Arizona Diamondbacks will turn to right-hander Brandon Pfaadt as they continue their pursuit of a playoff berth on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series against the host Milwaukee Brewers.
Pfaadt (9-9, 4.81 ERA) was rocked for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings in his lone career outing against the Brewers five days ago in Phoenix. He will be opposed by rookie right-hander Tobias Myers (8-5, 3.07), who picked up the win in that contest.
Milwaukee clinched its second consecutive National League Central title earlier on Wednesday after the Chicago Cubs lost to the Oakland Athletics. The Brewers effectively celebrated that title a few hours later with a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Jake Bauers’ walk-off single in the ninth inning.
“I hope we do a good job of keeping it under control when we celebrate, and then start to look forward and get after the next phase of this,” Brewers first-year manager Pat Murphy said Wednesday. “This is a special group of guys, and they believed at some point.
“I hope they continue to believe.”
The Phillies (91-61) lead the Dodgers (90-62) by one game for the best record in the NL. Milwaukee (88-64) is two games behind Los Angeles. The top two teams receive a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Arizona (84-68) recorded a 9-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, getting two homers from Corbin Carroll. Eduardo Rodriguez allowed just two runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out 11 and walking one.
The Diamondbacks are tied with the New York Mets (84-68) for the second wild-card spot, 2 1/2 games behind the San Diego Padres (87-66).
If the postseason were to start Thursday, the Brewers and Diamondbacks would be squaring off in a wild-card series.
“If you were to tell me in spring training that we’d be in the position we’re in with 10 games to go, I’d sign up for that every single time,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said Wednesday. “We know what we need to get done inside our dugout, inside our clubhouse.”
Milwaukee won two of three games at Arizona last week prior to returning home to face the Phillies. The Diamondbacks salvaged the final game with an 11-10 victory in 10 innings on Sunday.
Against the Diamondbacks and Pfaadt his last time out, Myers allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings as he cruised to the 15-8 win. He is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA over his past seven starts.
In the loss on Saturday to Milwaukee, Pfaadt gave up eight runs on seven hits while walking three in 1 2/3 innings. He is 1-2 with an 11.25 ERA in three starts this month.
“(The loss on Saturday) was a total lack of pitch execution, missed pitches in the middle of the zone, lack of command with our secondary stuff, just too many misses to a team that is just going to fight you the whole way and not give in,” Lovullo told Arizona Sports afterward.
Arizona’s offense has been producing at a historic clip. The Diamondbacks went into Wednesday averaging 6.37 runs per game post-All-Star break, second most in NL history behind the 1953 Dodgers (6.41) and eighth overall.
