Mookie Betts is back in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup after a scheduled night off and with the team looking to avoid a third consecutive loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Dodgers already have dropped three in a row this season, which was a first since August 2019.
Betts went 1-for-4 in the series opener at American Family Field and has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games. That’s the longest active streak in the Majors, besting Alex Verdugo (20 games) and Cody Bellinger (19).
Betts is a career 8-for-15 with three doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, five runs scored and five walks in four regular season games against the Brewers. He and the rest of the Dodgers will look to get their bats going to provide run support for Dustin May.
May faces the Brewers for the for the first time in his career and enters at 1-1 with a 2.53 ERA in four starts this season. The right-hander is the first member of the rotation to take the hill one extra rest due to the Dodgers using a bullpen game Friday.
May is coming off a strong outing in which he held the San Diego Padres to just one run over six innings and set a career high with 10 strikeouts. He’s been particularly effective in the few instances of runners being in scoring position, as opponents are 1-for-13 in such situations.
The Brewers counter with Brandon Woodruff, who is 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched across five starts this year. Since a shaky performance on Opening Day, Woodruff has allowed one run or fewer and pitched at least six innings in his past four outings.
Woodruff last faced the Dodgers in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series. He retired the first eight batters faced and got through four scoreless innings before singles by Bellinger and Chris Taylor led to the Dodgers taking a decided lead.
Taylor is not the lineup after playing seven consecutive games, and though the Dodgers have hit a recent skid, they still rank highly in several categories. Their 80 extra-base hits season is good for fourth in the National League, they lead the Majors with 126 walks, are seventh with a .738 on-base plus slugging percentage and 10th with a .405 slugging.
The Dodgers did some shuffling in their bullpen prior to the game, recalling Alex Vesia and optioning Edwin Uceta.
Milwaukee also made changes to their active roster as Omar Narvaez was put on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring suffered Friday night. The Brewers recalled Mario Feliciano, one of the organization’s top prospects.
Narvaez is the 15th player the Brewers have put on the IL, which is most in baseball.
Dodgers lineup
CF: Mookie Betts
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Max Muncy
RF: Matt Beaty
LF: AJ Pollock
2B: Gavin Lux
C: Austin Barnes
P: Dustin May
Brewers lineup
2B: Kolten Wong
1B: Daniel Vogelbach
RF: Avisail Garcia
3B: Travis Shaw
CF: Jackie Bradley Jr.
SS: Luis Urias
LF: Billy McKinney
C: Luke Maile
P: Brandon Woodruff
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