Game Thread #85: Milwaukee Brewers (47-37) @ New York Mets (48-37)

Brewers look to move into first Wild Card spot in first of a doubleheader

After getting rained out last night (and thus enduring the rare in-season two-day break), the Milwaukee Brewers will start today’s doubleheader with the New York Mets with Freddy Peralta heading to the mound to take on the Mets’ Clay Holmes. Jacob Misiorowski is expected to start the night game.

Holmes, if you recall, was closing games for the Yankees the past three seasons but was converted to a starting role upon signing as a free agent with the Mets this offseason. It has gone pretty well thus far: Holmes is currently tied for the National League lead with eight wins, and he’s pitched to a 2.97 ERA (128 ERA+) in 88 innings. That number does belie some concerning underlying numbers: Holmes is striking out significantly fewer batters than he ever has in the majors before (not entirely shocking, given his change in role) and his walks are up. He holds just a 4.19 FIP, over 1.2 runs higher than his ERA, and the Brewers will hope to make those numbers regress. Holmes has been a little shaky in his last two outings; he’s walked 10 batters in just 9 ²⁄₃ innings in his last two starts (both against the Braves), though he’s limited the damage to four runs allowed in that timeframe.

Peralta is coming off a start where he looked great for five innings and then ran into trouble in the sixth in last Tuesday’s 9-3 win over the Pirates. In that game, after giving up three straight singles to start the second inning, Peralta locked in and retired 12 Pirates in a row (and stranded the bases loaded in the second). But in the sixth, Peralta gave up a single, a single, and a three-run homer to start the sixth inning, and his five innings of excellent work were undone pretty quickly. Milwaukee, at least, held a seven-run lead at the time, so it didn’t really hurt the team’s chances of winning. Like Holmes, Peralta holds a good ERA (2.90, 137 ERA+) but a sketchier FIP (3.91), though the discrepancy with Peralta isn’t as large.

Anthony Seigler, called up yesterday, will get right into the action today and starts the afternoon game at third base in what will be his major league debut. Jake Bauers will also get this afternoon’s start at first base, with Hoskins presumably going there this evening. There’s also a bit of a lineup shakeup, as William Contreras and Jackson Chourio have swapped places, with Contreras batting second and Chourio fourth.

First pitch in this afternoon game is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. CT, and, as usual, you’ll be able to find the game on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.