Brewers at Royals
Lorenzo Cain looks to punish his former team again when the Milwaukee Brewers attempt to extend their winning streak to eight games against the host Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Cain, who spent seven seasons and won the 2015 World Series with the Royals before signing as a free agent with the Brewers over the winter, homered, singled and scored a pair of runs in Tuesday’s 5-2 victory at Kansas City.
Cain is 8-for-17 with 10 runs scored and six walks over his last five games to raise his batting average to .316 while Travis Shaw has recorded three homers and six RBIs in his last four contests for Milwaukee after going deep on Tuesday. Jhoulys Chacin will try to string two wins together for the Brewers when he takes the mound in the finale of the two-game interleague series while Kansas City counters with the snake-bitten Jason Hammel. The Royals lost for the 11th time in 13 games on Tuesday but got two of their top offensive threats back in the lineup as both Salvador Perez (knee) and Alex Gordon (hip) made immediate impacts. Perez, who was making his season debut, hit a solo homer in the setback while Gordon recorded two hits and scored once after missing the previous 13 games.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Jhoulys Chacin (1-1, 4.18 ERA) vs. Royals RH Jason Hammel (0-1, 3.20)
Chacin is coming off his best start of the season as he limited Miami to five hits and three walks while striking out five over six scoreless innings to post his first win with the Brewers. The 30-year-old Venezuelan has struggled with control at times, walking 13 and fanning 16, while averaging fewer than five innings per start. Lucas Duda is 4-for-7 with two homers versus Chacin, who is 1-1 with a 3.46 ERA in two career games against the Royals.
Hammel has strung together three straight solid outings without a victory, allowing four runs on 16 hits and four walks over 20 1/3 innings. The 35-year-old native of South Carolina registered his second career complete game last time out at Detroit, limiting the Tigers to two runs and five hits before the Royals lost 3-2 in 10 innings. Ryan Braun is 11-for-31 with a double and four RBIs against Hammel, who is 10-2 with a 3.13 ERA versus the Brewers and 15-8 lifetime in interleague play.
WALK-OFFS
1. Kansas City 3B Mike Moustakas went 0-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday to end his hitting streak at 14 games.
2. Braun has recorded multiple hits in three of his last six games and seven RBIs over his last five contests.
3. The Royals also recalled LHP Eric Stout from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday and placed RHP Justin Grimm (back) on the 10-day disabled list.