MLB Baseball
2011-07-21 - Milwaukee Brewers at Arizona Diamondbacks
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: MLB Baseball
Thursday 21 July 2011 - First Pitch 2:40pm ET
2:40am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Milwaukee Brewers (53-46) took a series 2-1 lead thanks to an extra innings win last night to improve their record when visiting the Arizona Diamondbacks (52-46). Both teams also recorded comfortable wins in the first 2 games of the series.
Ryan Braun has returned to the Brewers batting lineup but the team is taking care of one of the important pieces of their team by not asking him to push too much. Unfortunately for the team, they lost Carlos Gomez to an injury last night that looks to rule him out for up to 2 months.
Injuries have not been restricted to the Milwaukee side of the fence as Stephen Drew was injured for the Diamondbacks last night, ruling him out until the new season.
Milwaukee's 2 wins in a row has helped them reclaim top spot in the National League Central and they now enjoy a 0.5 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates. On the other hand, Arizona have fallen 4.5 games behind San Francisco in the National League West.
Arizona will hope bringing Ian Kennedy to the mound will help them turn things around in this series. Kennedy is 10-3 this season with a 3.39 ERA and has a chance to win his 3rd game in a row.
Kennedy will look to improve his 0-1 record against Milwaukee with a 4.15 ERA in 2 starts against them last season.
Milwaukee have gone 4-1 in their last 5 games thanks to their starting pitching rotation that has a 1.44 ERA in those games. They will send Zack Greinke to the mound to improve his 7-3 record with a 5.04 ERA.
Greinke has given up just 2 earned runs in his last 2 starts through 12 innings pitched. However, the former Cy Young winner had struggled to a 0-1 record with a 12.38 ERA in his 2 previous starts.
The pitcher has 3 career starts against the Diamondbacks, all with Kansas City, and has a 0-1 record with a 7.50 ERA.
Head to Head
The season series is now tied 3-3 thanks to Milwaukee's consecutive victories.
The Brewers have also improved to 8-1 in their last 9 visits to Arizona.
Arizona are 3-2 in Game 4's this season, going 1-1 when losing their last game.
Milwaukee are 4-2 in Game 4's, and they are 3-1 when winning Game 3.
Prediction
Both of these teams are having to fight through injuries at the moment, but I think Arizona may have a slight edge tonight.
Zack Greinke has been a little hit and miss as a starting pitcher in Milwaukee after showing a lot of good stuff in his time with Kansas City. He has struggled with the Diamondbacks in the past and has given up a few runs in recent games.
Ian Kennedy was upset with the way he performed last time out against the LA Dodgers but it is telling that he only gave up 2 runs in that game and he has proven to be a very effective starter for Arizona this season.
Milwaukee do have an exceptional recent record in this ball park, but I am going to pick Arizona to level the series.
The Pick :
Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Milwaukee Brewers
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Arizona Diamondbacks @ 1.91 (Pinnacle)
