Milwaukee Brewers vs. San Francisco Giants 6/14/19: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Betting Odds
Contents
TV/Radio Section
Milwaukee Brewers vs. San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins, 6/14/19 10:15 PM ET Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA, TV: Brewers (FSWI), Giants (NBC Bay Area), Radio: Brewers (WTMJ 620), Giants (KNBR 680, KXZM 93.7)
Matchup Preview
After wrapping up a quick two game series in Houston, the Brewers head west for the first game in their weekend series against the Giants. The Brewers are looking to extend their 1 game lead in the NL Central while the Giants continue treading water as they sit 16.5 games back in the NL West.
The Brewers (39-29) have gone 7-3 over their past 10 games and lead the NL Central despite only a +13 run differential. At home, they own an impressive 22-13 record but on the road, they’re a much more average team at 17-16. Over their past four series, the Brewers have come up with some surprising results, beating the Pirates twice, splitting with the Astros, and losing to the Marlins.
At 28-38, the Giants don’t have much hope for the rest of the season. They’re already began shopping their top trade chips in 2014 World Series MVP, Madison Bumgarner, and closer Will Smith. Their lineup consists of mainly veterans which doesn’t bode well for a team looking to get younger and rebuild. The only bright spot so far is if the season ended today, the Giants would hold the 6th overall pick in next year’s draft.
Milwaukee Brewers Starting Lineup
1. Lorenzo Cain (R) CF
2. Christian Yelich (L) RF
3. Ryan Braun (R) LF
4. Yasmani Grandal (S) C
5. Jesus Aguilar (R) 1B
6. Hernan Perez (R) 2B
7.Travis Shaw (L) 3B
8. Orlando Arcia (R) SS
9. Zach Davies (R) P
Brewers Analysis
Led by reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich, the Brewers offense has heavily relied on the long ball, ranking 3rd in the majors with 121 home runs as a team. Yelich has already racked up 25 home runs and is trailed by Mike Moustakas, Yasmani Grandal, and Ryan Braun with 21, 15, and 11, respectively. Even with their successful power hitting, the Brewers have had their fair share of struggles. Leadoff hitter Lorenzo Cain has yet to replicate last year’s success and Milwaukee hasn’t found consistent production at either corner infield spot.
Against Giants starter Drew Pomeranz, Yasmani Grandal and Lorenzo Cain have found the most success. The catcher has gone 3 for 8 lifetime with a home run and 4 RBI while the outfielder has hit .571 in seven career at-bats. The rest can’t be the same as Christian Yelich, Mike Moustakas, and Ryan Braun have all had their fair share of struggles against the southpaw. Coming into the series, Christian Yelich has hit .500 over the past week as he continues his campaign to repeat as NL MVP. Mike Moustakas has been arguably as good within the past week with a .400 batting average with 3 homers.
Zach Davies (7-0) has been magnificent this year with a 2.41 ERA and 1.246 WHIP so far. However, he’s been hit hard in his past couple of starts, giving up 11 runs over the past 22 innings compared to the 9 runs he gave up in his first 52.2 innings pitched this season. There doesn’t appear to be a discernible difference between the .243 batting average he’s allowed right-handed batters and .275 batting average he’s allowed to left-handed batters; it’s of note that the Giants will likely use a left-handed heavy hitting lineup come Friday night. More importantly to note, Davies has been decent with a 3.13 ERA in Miller Park but ace-like on the road with a 1.88 ERA.
Giants Starting Lineup
1. Joe Panik (L) 2B
2. Mike Yastrzemski (L) RF
3.Evan Longoria (R) 3B
4. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
5. Buster Posey (R) C
6. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
7. Kevin Pillar (R) CF
8. Steven Duggar (L) LF
9. Drew Pomeranz (L) P
Giants Analysis
As the Giants continue their tumble in the NL West divisional race, they run into a Milwaukee Brewers team hungry for a series victory. San Francisco still ranks near the bottom in nearly every offensive category in the league and league average in team pitching. If there’s any hope for the Giants long term goals, they’ll want to show off their full array of rental targets both in their lineup and bullpen. In Friday night’s contest, it’ll be interesting to see if the Giants can deal Davies his first loss of the season and to see which version of Drew Pomeranz will show up.
Somehow, Pablo Sandoval is possibly the most desirable batter the Giants have to offer as a potential bench bat for a playoff contender. He and Brandon Crawford have experienced the most success against Davies by batting .667 and .400, respectively. I’d expect Manager Bruce Bochy continuing to experiment with lineup options as he attempts to improve on an offense ranked near the bottom of the league. Coming off of a 2 game sweep of the Padres, the Giants will look to end their homestand on a high note. Look for Evan Longoria and Joe Panik to continue their recent stretch of success within the past few games.
Last week against the Dodgers, Drew Pomeranz (1-6) had perhaps his best start of his short Giants career, going 5 innings with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. However, don’t let that fool you as his season ERA sits at an ugly 7.16 accompanied by a 1.750 WHIP. Factor in his 2.27 strikeout to walk rate and you would think that Pomeranz has the inability to both limit and prevent opponents from scoring. If anything, his ERA drops from 8.87 on the road to 5.23 when pitching in the pitcher-friendly confines of Oracle Park.
Brewers vs Giants Betting Odds
The line is currently set at Brewers -104, Giants +104.
The betting line favors the Brewers as they rank as both the better offensive and pitching team of the two. Over each of the team’s past two games, the Giants have gone 2-0 with 10 runs scored while the Brewers have gone 1-1 while scoring 14 times. If the Brewers hitting can continue as they have over the past few games and their pitching perform better tonight behind Davies, they’re likely to begin the series with a W. Meanwhile, Pomeranz will have to pitch lights out like he did against the Dodgers for the Giants offense to keep pace with Milwaukee. The over/under line for this game is set at 8.4. For me, reaching this number is a matter of how much damage the Brewers can do to San Francisco’s pitching staff and whether the Giants offense can get some hard contact against Davies.
Bet on Matchup
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