The Milwaukee Brewers will host the San Diego Padres for three games beginning Tuesday evening, with both teams coming in near the top of their divisions and carrying different kinds of uncertainty. Milwaukee is 22-16 and tied with the Cardinals for second place in the NL Central, while San Diego is 24-16 and tied atop the NL West with the Dodgers.
The Brewers arrive after a three-game sweep of the Yankees, but they still have Christian Yelich waiting to rejoin the lineup and Brandon Lockridge out after injuring his right knee on Friday night. Lockridge’s initial X-rays were negative, but he is likely to miss at least a few weeks, possibly a month, leaving Milwaukee to keep leaning on Brice Turang, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio at the top and middle of the order. Turang leads the club with six homers, eight doubles and a.298/.422/.511 slash line, while Jake Bauers and Gary Sánchez have been key power contributors. Milwaukee is hitting.240/.333/.353 with a.686 OPS, 26 homers, 195 runs and 40 steals.
The Brewers are also thin on the mound. Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester, Angel Zerpa, Rob Zastryzny and Jared Koenig are all out, though Woodruff is set to resume throwing this week. Priester’s return remains up in the air after shoulder soreness during a rehab assignment, Zerpa is out for the season and will undergo Tommy John surgery today, and Zastryzny and Koenig are targeting late May or early June returns. That leaves Milwaukee trying to protect a strong start while patching together innings behind a staff that has already absorbed multiple losses.
San Diego comes in after a 2-2 split with the Cardinals and is dealing with its own injury list. The Padres are without Jhony Brito, Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta, Bryan Hoeing, Yu Darvish, Germán Márquez, Jake Cronenworth and Luis Campusano. Márquez is out until at least June with a forearm injury, Cronenworth is in concussion protocol and Campusano, who went on the IL last week with a big toe fracture, is expected to be out until at least late May. Brandon Lockridge’s injury only adds to the uncertainty for a club that has already spent much of the spring working around absences.
Even with those gaps, the Padres have enough offense to stay in the race. Xander Bogaerts leads the club with seven homers, Manny Machado has six homers and is hitting.191/.294/.353, and Fernando Tatis Jr. has no homers, 15 RBIs, 14 runs and 10 steals through 39 games. Ty France has played in 23 games, and the team is hitting.223/.297/.370 with a.667 OPS, 39 homers and 170 runs. The series gives two contenders another early look at where they stand, and the club that handles the injuries better may leave Milwaukee with more than just a series win.
