With their postseason hopes fading, the Toronto Blue Jays pay a visit to Miller Park tonight to begin a brief two-game interleague series with the Milwaukee Brewers, with the Blue Jays in need of some competent pitching to end a discouraging August and the Brewers chasing a fifth straight victory.
Milwaukee, on the other hand, has won four straight to pad its lead in the National League Central Division. On Sunday, the Brewers put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep over the Dodgers in Los Angeles with a 7-2 victory
Milwaukee (70-55) returns home after sweeping three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers to conclude a 5-2 road stretch during which the staff posted a 2.21 ERA to cover for the lineup's .214 average.
Jonathan Lucroy went 2 for 5 with a home run and five RBIs in Sunday's 7-2 win, while Carlos Gomez homered for a second straight game. Ryan Braun, though, is 2 for 20 over five games and is also batting just .237 in 14 interleague contests this season.
Mike Fiers has been a big part of the pitching success since entering the rotation for the injured Matt Garza on Aug. 9. After allowing three hits in six scoreless innings while striking out a career-high 14 in Thursday's 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs, Fiers is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA in two starts.
With Triple-A Nashville, Fiers went 8-5 with 129 strikeouts in 102 1/3 innings over 17 starts, so the numbers aren't all that surprising to him as he tries to re-establish himself with the big league club.
Toronto currently sits 7 1/2 games back of Baltimore in the American League East and four games off the pace for the wild card. The Blue Jays have struggled of late, with 11 losses in 15 games this month.
Toronto was idle on Monday -- as was Milwaukee -- after suffering a 7-5 road loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison had a rough first inning as he surrendered six runs on a grand slam and a two-run blast. Toronto's offense put some pressure on with four runs in the middle innings and later had the bases loaded in the ninth, but Sox closer Jake Petricka was able to get out of the jam.
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Monday's idle date was one of three off-days in a one-week span for the Blue Jays.
J.A. Happ gets the start for Toronto in Tuesday's series opener. The left- hander boasts a 2.51 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break but ran into some trouble in Seattle in his last outing, allowing five runs (four earned) in six innings.
Milwaukee is skipping Kyle Lohse (sprained ankle) in the rotation. In his place steps Mike Fiers, who has allowed just one earned run in two August starts (14 innings) since moving from the bullpen into the starting rotation. He tossed six scoreless frames and notched 14 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Thursday.
