The Milwaukee Brewers entered Tuesday on a nine-game winning streak and in control of the race in the National League Central and are looking to extend that advantage on Wednesday when they face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Milwaukee Brewers (-110, 7) vs. Chicago Cubs
The Cubs give Kyle Hendricks the start on the mound on Wednesday — overall, he has a 3.80 ERA with just 1.6 walks and 0.9 home runs per nine innings allowed but has a 3.97 fielding independent due to the high amount of contact he allows.
Hendricks is getting only 5.9 strikeouts per nine innings and has had most of his issues occur at home, posting a 4.84 ERA with 1.3 home runs per nine innings allowed at home compared to a 2.89 ERA with 0.6 home runs per nine innings allowed.
Countering for the Brewers is Brandon Woodruff, who is making just his seventh start of the season after spending much of the season on the injured list.
For Woodruff, he has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts this season and, so far in August, he has posted a 3.57 ERA with with six home runs allowed across 22 2/3 innings in four starts, with much of the damage being done in his road start against the Texas Rangers, who lead the league in runs per game at home.
Overall for the season, the Cubs have the upper hand at the plate, ranking third in the National League with just under 5.1 runs per game with the Brewers ranking 18th among MLB teams with just over 4.4 runs per game and 23rd in road batting average at .232. But, the Brewers have had a recent run-scoring surge.
Entering Tuesday, the Brewers were averaging 5.2 runs per game since August 4, good for fourth in the National League in that span while the Cubs entered Tuesday averaging 4.5 runs per game in that same stretch.
Since the All-Star Break, the Brewers are third in the league in bullpen ERA with a 3.00 ERA while the Cubs rank 10th with a 3.85 bullpen ERA.
With Woodruff having a track record of seeing success in the second half of the season after spending much of the first part of the season on the injured list combined with the recent uptick in production from both the lineup and bullpen, the Brewers will continue their winning ways on Wednesday.
The Play: Brewers -110
