The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in the thick of the National League Playoff picture and will look to improve their standing on the road against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
Milwaukee Brewers (-145, 8.5) vs. Washington Nationals
The Nationals offense lacks power, but makes a lot of contact, ranking sixth among MLB teams in home batting average at .267 while having the fewest strikeouts per at-bat of any National League team.
Freddy Peralta will get the nod to start Tuesday’s game on the mound for the Brewers, who relies on strikeouts to be effective as he enters Tuesday with a 4.46 ERA with 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings to go with 3.6 walks and 1.5 home runs per nine innings allowed.
Pitching on the road has also been a struggle for Peralta, posting a 5.04 ERA on the road with 4.2 walks per nine innings compared to a 4.06 ERA and overall has allowed at least three runs in 10 of his last 14 starts.
On the other side, Josiah Gray gets the start for the Washington Nationals, who’s 7-8 record with a 3.27 ERA is misleading with his fielding independent nearly a point and a half higher at 4.75.
Gray is registering 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing 4.1 walks and 1.2 home runs per nine innings with his struggles mainly coming at home, as Gray has a 4.57 ERA at home with more than 1.8 home runs per nine innings allowed while his road ERA is 2.53.
The Nationals back up Gray with a bullpen that has the worst ERA among all National League teams while the Brewers are 12th among MLB teams in ERA this season.
With the Brewers acquiring slugger Carlos Santana to fortify the lineup just before the series, both offense will generate plenty of runs on Tuesday.
The Play: Brewers vs. Nationals Over 8.5
