Brewers at Rockies
Jhoulys Chacín has bounced around since spending his first six major league seasons with the Colorado Rockies, and is now with his fifth different team since the start of 2015. Chacin will be in a familiar spot, however, when he takes the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night in the opener of a 10-game road trip against the Rockies.
Coors Field is not known as a pitcher's haven but Chacin managed to go 23-23 there while making 69 appearances (62 starts) for Colorado. He will try to slow a team that had ripped off six consecutive wins before dropping an 8-0 decision in the second of a two-game interleague series against the Los Angeles Angels. The Rockies had allowed two runs or fewer five times during the six-game run and also saw their franchise-record string of quality starts snapped at nine in Wednesday's loss. Milwaukee, which is in a four-way dogfight for first place in the National League Central, capped a 2-3 homestand with a 6-2 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday.
TV: 8:40 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Jhoulys Chacín (2-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. Rockies RH German Márquez (2-3, 4.76)
Chacin did not factor in the decision last time out against Pittsburgh despite six strong innings in which he permitted one run on three hits, keeping him unbeaten in his last six starts despite failing to get through five innings in half of them. He has made three starts against his former team, compiling a 1-1 record and 3.31 ERA. Chacin has limited Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story to a combined 1-for-15.
Marquez halted a two-start skid last time out with a strong performance at the New York Mets, striking out a season-high eight batters and yielding two runs and six hits over six innings. It was the third quality start in the last four outings for the 23-year-old Venezuelan, who is 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA in two starts against Milwaukee. Orlando Arcia is 3-for-5 with a homer, triple and double against Marquez.
WALK-OFFS
1. Brewers closer Corey Knebel came off the disabled list and gave up a solo homer in his first appearance since April 5.
2. Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado has hit safely in eight of nine games, collecting four homers and nine RBIs in that span.
3. Milwaukee placed LH Wade Miley (oblique) and INF-OF Nick Franklin (quadriceps) on the 10-day DL.