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The Milwaukee Brewers thought they would play
their home opener on Friday. Instead, they'll look to give it a
shot Saturday.
The original opener was postponed Friday after the Brewers'
opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, had two players test
positive for COVID-19.
"It's obviously not ideal," Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun said
of the postponement. "We would love to be playing today, but we
think the most important thing is completing the season so it
certainly feels like the most prudent decision to not play
today."
Friday's game is scheduled to be made up Sunday during a
doubleheader of seven-inning games at Miller Park, under the new
pandemic rules governing the major leagues.
The Cardinals spent Friday quarantined in their Milwaukee hotel.
Their traveling team underwent rapid response testing while
hoping to gain clearance to play Saturday.
"We don't know what that means for the rest of this weekend yet,
but as we've done from the beginning, we can only continue to
take it day to day and see how things play out," Braun said.
"My fingers are crossed that we get some good news," Cardinals
president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. "I actually
was going to say some positive news but when you think of that
word, 'positive' now there's a lot of negative to it. So, I hope
we get some good news."
Brett Anderson is expected to make his pitching debut for
Brewers on Saturday. The veteran left-hander was 13-9 with a
3.89 ERA in 31 starts for the Oakland A's last season.
He signed a one-year contract with the Brewers as a free agent.
He landed on the injured list after developing a blister on his
left index finger during summer camp.
Anderson lost his two previous career starts against the
Cardinals despite allowing just four runs in 13 2/3 innings.
Paul Goldschmidt (8-for-15, two homers, five RBIs) and Kolten
Wong (2-for-4, RBI) had success against him.
The Cardinals are expected to start Jack Flaherty (1-0, 2.57
ERA), who beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Opening Day.
He struggled against the Brewers last season, posting a 1-3 mark
with a 6.48 ERA in five starts. He's 2-4 with a 4.56 ERA in 10
career starts against them.
Braun (7-for-16, two doubles, three homers, five RBIs, 1.625
OPS), Lorenzo Cain (6-for-20, homer), Omar Narvaez (2-for-3,
homer, two RBIs) and Keston Hiura (1-for-3, homer, two RBIs)
have caused Flaherty problems.
Christian Yelich will be looking to finally settle in at the
plate. He went 1-for-27 with 12 strikeouts during the Brewers'
3-3 road trip.
"I don't know what you want me to say here. He's struggling,"
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We're always concerned
when our hitters struggle. He'll get out of it. I assure of it.
We'll do our best to help him."
Yelich punished the Cardinals last season while hitting .347
with eight homers, 19 RBIs, 18 walks and a 1.400 OPS. He has
also been a better hitter at home, where he smacked 27 of his 44
homers in 2019 and produced a 1.201 OPS.
"I'd be a little careful reading into trends this year," Brewers
general manager David Stearns said. "It's possible that pitchers
were able to keep their arms going during shutdown where it's
much tougher for hitters to see quality live pitching in a
quarantine environment.
"It also could turn on its head here really quickly."
The Cardinals are hoping for an offensive reversal as well.
Opponents outscored them 11-4 during their three-game losing
streak and limited the bottom third of their batting order to
three hits in 24 at bats.
--Field Level Media
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