Atlanta Braves at Brewers series preview: Will the misery end in Milwaukee?

With the season currently off the rails, the Atlanta Braves are currently limping into their former hometown in order to take on the Milwaukee Brewers. As you can see by the fact that the Brewers are currently one of the eight teams that are over .500 in the NL right now, this figures to be another tough challenge for the Braves at the moment. Now granted — with the way the Braves have played and the luck (or lack therof) that they’ve had in these games, they could be playing any big league ballclub and would be in for a titanic struggle. We might get a chance to see that theory play itself out this weekend when the Rockies come to town but for now, the Braves have to focus on figuring out a way to start getting the season back on track as they face the Brewers for the next few days.

The one encouraging thing about this series is that Milwaukee certainly doesn’t have an imposing offense, similar to how the Giants weren’t exactly bringing Murderer’s Row to the ballpark. While that doesn’t matter if a one-run deficit turns out to be the end of the world like it has for most of this season for the Braves so far, it’s still encouraging to know that the Braves might actually have the edge when it comes to potentially keeping the other team off of the scoreboard. The Brewers aren’t completely moribund at the plate but Atlanta’s pitching staff still has an opportunity to potentially give Milwaukee’s batters some fits this week.

The Brewers are entering this series hitting .237/.315/.362 with a .302 wOBA and a 92 wRC+ as a team — that wRC+ number in particular is the third-worst mark in the National League, with the Pirates having the second-worst mark in their own world at 80 and the Rockies being stuck in their own personal hell at 66 wRC+. So while Milwaukee’s numbers at the plate are a bit underwhelming, they’re not horrible by any stretch of the imagination. Sal Frelick and Rhys Hoskins have been the two standouts at the plate, with Christian Yelich, Brice Turang and old friend William Contreras providing reliable production at the plate as well. Yelich and Jackson Chourio in particular appear to be the main power threats, with Jake Bauers providing some pop as well. Again, while there’s nothin super exciting or dangerous going on here, it’s certainly a lineup that should be taken seriously.

Monday, June 9, 7:40 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports Network South/Southeast)

LHP Chris Sale (13 GS, 73.2 IP, 30.9 K%, 7.4 BB%, 2.93 ERA, 72 ERA-, 2.92 FIP, 76 FIP- 1.8 fWAR)

Chris Sale has found his groove, as he’s been very good over his past four starts and it was honestly a crying shame that Atlanta ended up losing his most recent start. Sale went six innings and only gave up three hits and one run while also striking out 10 batters. It didn’t matter because Atlanta’s lineup had a nightmare at the plate but that shouldn’t discourage Sale from keeping up the good work.

With that being said, Sale had a mixed bag of results against the Brewers when he made two consecutive starts against them last Summer. Sale made it into the sixth and only gave up two runs against them on a win on July 31 but then on August 7, the Brewers managed to get him out of the game after just 4.2 innings. Milwaukee eventually won 8-5 but they were certainly happy to see Atlanta’s bullpen after Sale managed to strike out 10 batters during those 4.2 innings. Hopefully we’ll see Sale put it together against Milwaukee on Monday night.

RHP Aaron Civale (4 GS, 17.1 IP, 19.2 K%, 6.8 BB%, 5.19 ERA, 129 ERA-, 5.49 FIP, 137 FIP-, 0.0 fWAR)

Civale’s coming into this one with an extra day of rest after he saw his scheduled start on Sunday get pushed back a day. Civale actually spent nearly two months on the IL due to a hamstring issue but ever since his return, he’s actually been pretty solid. He’s gone at least five innings in two of the three starts that he’s made since returning from the IL and in his most recent outing, he got into the sixth inning while only giving up two runs and striking out five batters in the process. This’ll actually be a very interesting pitching matchup since the only two Braves batters who have experience against Civale are Sean Murphy and Alex Verdugo and they both have a combined 7 ABs against Civale. It’s a fresh matchup, indeed.

Tuesday, June 10, 7:40 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports Network South/Southeast)

RHP Grant Holmes (12 GS, 67.2 IP, 24.3 K%, 10.4 BB%, 3.99 ERA, 98 ERA-, 4.55 FIP, 117 FIP-, 0.2 fWAR)

This’ll be the first time Holmes has seen the Brewers since he made his first ever big-league start back on July 29 against the Brewers. It was a creditable debut for Holmes, as he went five innings in that one and only gave up one run while striking out eight. Needless to say, a repeat and/or improvement on that performance would be lovely — especially since Holmes has fallen into a rough patch as of late. Holmes only made it one out into the fourth inning before leaving his last start against Arizona and that was after he gave up three runs in 5.2 innings against the Red Sox. Now would be as good of a time as any to put a stop to that particular slide, right?

RHP Quinn Priester (7 GS, 55.2 IP, 15.4 K%, 11.1 BB%, 3.88 ERA, 96 ERA-, 4.58 FIP, 115 FIP-, 0.0 fWAR)

While this is scheduled to be Quinn Priester’s first start since May 24, he’s actually had a couple of long stints since then as the Brewers have paired him up with DL Hall as an Opener-Starter combo for the past couple of starts. It worked pretty well as the Brewers won both games using this strategy — a 6-2 win over the Phillies on May 30 that saw Hall and Priester cover the entire game by themselves (with Priester giving up the only two runs) and a 9-2 win over the Reds where Hall and Priester covered eight innings (again, Priester gave up the only run).

So while the Brewers have figured out an effective way to deploy Priester, he’s had his wobbly moments. He gave up three runs in a piggyback effort on May 19 and also had a two-start stretch against the Cubs and Cardinals where Chicago got him for seven runs over 4.1 innings and St. Louis got him for five runs over five innings. Priester figures to be tough but it definitely won’t be an impossible challenge for the Braves to figure out — hopefully!

Wednesday, June 11, 7:40 p.m. ET (FanDuel Sports Network South/Southeast)

RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (13 GS, 80.2 IP, 22.9 K%, 4.3 BB%, 3.24 ERA, 80 ERA-, 3.25 FIP, 84 FIP-, 1.5 fWAR)

Sadly, Schwellenbach’s strong start against the Red Sox wasn’t an indicator of an immediate return to form, as the Giants got him for four runs (three earned) over six hits. You know it wasn’t a great outing for Schwellenbach when he actually walked two batters while he was out there. Still, it wouldn’t be shocking if Schwellenbach got back on track against the Brewers in this start. He’s made it into the seventh inning in four of his past six starts and short starts in general have been rare for Schwellenbach here in 2024. Assuming he’s on point again, I’d imagine that this serves as a decent enough opportunity for Schwellenbach to deliver a strong performance for the Braves in this one.

RHP Chad Patrick (13 GS, 69.2 IP, 21.9 K%, 7.3 BB%, 2.84 ERA, 71 ERA-, 3.23 FIP, 81 FIP-, 1.8 fWAR)

This matchup figures to be an exciting showcase of young guns, as Chad Patrick has been a revelation for the Brewers since making his big league debut on March 29 and his first start shortly afterwards on April 1. The most runs that Patrick has given up in any given start so far is three — conversely, the most batters he’s struck out in any given start is seven. That’s to say that Patrick isn’t the most exciting pitcher to watch in the world but at the same time, you can’t argue with the results. If you’ve gotten this many starts deep into your big league career without something exploding, you’re doing something right. Patrick is clearly doing something right and it’ll be very interesting to see how he and Schwellenbach match up against each other on Wednesday afternoon.