Brewers at Royals
The Milwaukee Brewers ride a six-game winning streak - their longest since 2015 - when they kick off a nine-game road trip Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals. Milwaukee (14-9) is coming off a four-game sweep of Miami in which it outscored the Marlins 30-10, and its 3.37 ERA - 2.64 among relievers - is an early sign that the Brewers could again be a factor in the National League Central this season.
"It's great momentum heading into this (nine-game) road trip, kind of a long one coming up," Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich told reporters after homering in Sunday's 4-2 victory. "It was an important homestand for us, and we were able to come home and play really well." Kansas City (5-15) has lost 10 of its last 12 games - allowing 11 or more runs three times in its last seven contests, but starts a seven-game homestand after winning at Detroit 8-5 on Sunday. Mike Moustakas leads the Royals in batting average (.318), home runs (six), RBIs (17) and runs (12) after belting a tiebreaking, three-run blast Sunday. The Brewers' Zach Davies tries to snap a bad-start, good-start pattern to open the season and opposes Ian Kennedy, who hopes to bounce back from his first subpar performance of 2018.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Zach Davies (1-2, 4.84 ERA) vs. Royals RH Ian Kennedy (1-2, 2.35)
Davies allowed three hits and two walks while striking out two in 6 1/3 innings of a 2-0 victory over Cincinnati on Wednesday. The 25-year-old Washington native earned a no-decision after yielding one run and striking out eight in six innings of Milwaukee's 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 7 - a turn sandwiched by a pair of starts in which he permitted 12 runs (11 earned) in 10 innings. Davies has never pitched against Kansas City and faced only three of its hitters - Jon Jay, Jorge Soler and Lucas Duda, who are a combined 8-for-25.
Kennedy allowed six runs (four earned), eight hits (two home runs) and three walks while striking out six in five innings of a 15-5 loss at Toronto on Wednesday. The 33-year-old Californian burst out of the gate this season with three quality starts, pitching six innings in each turn and yielding a total of two runs with 16 strikeouts. Yelich is 5-for-12 with a home run, triple and two doubles versus Kennedy, who is 3-4 with a 3.66 ERA in 10 starts versus the Brewers but hasn't faced them since 2015.
WALK-OFFS
1. Milwaukee SS Orlando Arcia has missed the last two games with an ankle injury, but manager Craig Counsell told reporters: "We'll run him around (Sunday), check him out (Monday) and if he passes, he'll be ready to go on Tuesday."
2. The Royals' bullpen has the worst ERA in the majors at 7.84.
3. Brewers' relievers haven't allowed an earned run in their last 21 2/3 innings with 28 strikeouts during that span.