(SportsNetwork.com) – With a major league-low five wins this season, the
Milwaukee Brewers will be happy to get center fielder Carlos Gomez back into
their lineup Saturday afternoon to inject some offense into a team that was
shut out on Friday afternoon.
The Brewers resume a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Gomez has been on the disabled list since April 17 with a strained right
hamstring. Last season, he produced 23 homers and 73 RBI with 34 doubles and
34 steals in 148 games and was named an All-Star for the second time in his
career.
Gomez and the rest of the Brewers, who have just five wins on the season, go
against Jake Arrieta and a Cubs team that has won five of their last six
games. Arrieta has won both of his last two starts, on the road against the
Pirates and Reds. Last Sunday at Cincinnati, he pitched six innings and
allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. The right-
hander has a career record of 2-2 with a 2.59 ERA in five starts against the
Brewers.
Mike Fiers aims for his first win of the season for the Brewers. The 29-year-
old right-hander didn’t get a decision Sunday versus the Cardinals when he
surrendered two runs — one earned — on nine hits and two walks in four-plus
innings. He is 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA in four games (3 starts) against the Cubs.
On Friday, Jon Lester threw seven scoreless innings and Addison Russell hit
his first major league home run in the Cubs’ 1-0 win to open the three-game
series at Wrigley Field.
Lester (1-2) earned his first win as a Cub after he struck out four and only
allowed three hits and a walk. Pedro Strop threw a 1-2-3 eighth and Hector
Rondon recorded his fifth save.
Wily Peralta (0-4) struck out six and only allowed a run in six innings but
remained winless on the season. Gerardo Parra and Jason Rogers had two hits
apiece.
“We haven’t won two in a row all year,” said Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun. “Pitchers
threw the ball well, we played well defensively, but didn’t have many good at-
bats.”
After getting three hits but no runs in their first at-bat, the Cubs got what
they hope is a glimpse of the future when Russell, their star shortstop
prospect, hit a Peralta fastball into the bleachers in the third inning.
“It was a great moment for him and his family, and for us,” said Cubs manager
Joe Maddon.
A win Saturday or Sunday would make the Cubs unbeaten in four straight series
(of two or more games) for the first time since a six series stretch, June 25-
July 19, 2012.
The Cubs got the better of Milwaukee in last year’s season series, winning 11
of 19 meetings.
