Brewers at Twins
The Milwaukee Brewers sustained a significant loss even on a day off on Thursday as Ryan Braun was shuffled to the 10-day disabled list with mid-back tightness. The 2011 National League MVP sat out all three contests in the previous series for Milwaukee (26-18), which vies for its sixth win in eight outings on Friday when it begins the last leg of its 10-game road trip at the Minnesota Twins (18-21).
"It's always tough when you have an active member of your roster who's unavailable, because then you're playing down a player," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. Travis Shaw went deep for the club-leading 10th time in Wednesday's 8-2 romp over the Diamondbacks, giving him four homers in nine games while pushing his RBI total to 10 in that span - although he is 0-for-5 in his career against Friday starter Kyle Gibson. Minnesota has answered a 7-1 stretch by dropping three of its last four, with Wednesday's 7-5 setback against St. Louis sending the Twins to 1-2 on their 10-game homestand. Joe Mauer, who is 0-for-2 in a small sample size versus Friday starter Brent Suter, has nine hits in his last seven games to move past Harmon Killebrew into sixth place on the Twins/Washington Senators franchise list with 2,025.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FS North (Minnesota)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers LH Brent Suter (2-3, 5.14) vs. Twins RH Kyle Gibson (1-1, 3.43 ERA)
Suter tasted defeat for the first time in nearly one month on Saturday after being taken deep on two occasions for the second time in as many starts and third in five outings. The long balls did their damage as the 28-year-old allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings of a 4-0 setback in Colorado. Suter has limited the current crop of Twins to just a .200 batting average, although he walked away with a no-decision in his lone career meeting with Minnesota despite yielding three runs in four innings.
Gibson saw his winless stretch extend to seven outings on Saturday despite permitting two runs on three hits in six innings of a no-decision at the Los Angeles Angels. The 30-year-old didn't do himself any favors by walking four batters, a total he has reached on three occasions in 2018. Gibson has baffled Lorenzo Cain (6-for-32, seven strikeouts) over the years, but he sports just a 1-1 mark with a 5.03 ERA in three career encounters with Milwaukee.
WALK-OFFS
1. Minnesota LF Eddie Rosario, who leads the team in homers (nine), RBIs (27) and batting average (.296), has 11 multi-hit performances in his last 19 outings.
2. Milwaukee's 16 road wins are tied for the most in the majors with Houston and Colorado entering play on Thursday.
3. Twins 1B Logan Morrison, who homered in Wednesday's tilt, has hit safely in seven of his last nine outings.