The Milwaukee Brewers’ offense ranks toward the bottom of the National League, but they have hovered near the top of the Central Division standings for most the year — even after dropping three straight home games to Cincinnati.
The reason is simple. Milwaukee has one of the best rotations in baseball and has leaned on those arms through the first part of 2021.
The Colorado Rockies will see two of the best when they begin a four-game home series against the Brewers on Thursday night. Milwaukee right-hander Brandon Woodruff (5-2, 1.52 ERA) will get the ball in the first game while righty German Marquez (4-6, 4.60) takes the mound for the Rockies.
Woodruff’s ERA would be talked about more if not for New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom’s miniscule 0.54 mark. Woodruff, along with Corbin Burnes (2.27 ERA) and Freddy Peralta (2.28), form one of the best trios of pitchers in the major leagues, and their performances reward the Brewers for patience.
“We made the decision three years ago to move these guys into the rotation, and there were some bumps in the road as everyone knew,” owner Matt Attanasio said recently. “This was the hope — that we’d get this trio of guys to come together and pitch like this. I think they’re three of the top starters in the league. It’s really fun and maybe the best pitching we’ve had since I’ve owned the team on the whole.”
Woodruff is 0-0 with a 9.39 ERA in two career starts against the Rockies, both coming at Coors Field.
Milwaukee is coming off a disappointing series against Cincinnati but has one of the better road marks (18-12) in baseball. The Brewers will need to play well against a Colorado team that has won three straight at Coors Field and is 23-14 at home.
The Rockies have been getting strong starting pitching at home but relied on their offense to pull out a sweep-completing 8-7 win over San Diego on Wednesday. Raimel Tapia extended his hitting streak to 13 games with three hits in the win; he has 12 doubles during that span.
“He’s probably my favorite player to watch right now,” Rockies shortstop Trevor Story said.
Colorado needed a rally in the ninth to win.
“You’ve seen that out of our group — that resiliency out of our group has shown up,” manager Bud Black said. “It’s a character thing for the 26 guys on our team. The guys know a ballgame is never over — they play all 54 outs, and if we have to go 10 (innings), we’ll go 10.”
Marquez will try to keep it going Thursday night, although he has had mixed results against Milwaukee. In five career starts, he is 1-2 with a 5.04 ERA. He last pitched against the Brewers on April 30, 2019, and took the loss after allowing four runs through seven innings.
Marquez’s eight quality starts are tied with Austin Gomber for the most on the team.
