MLB Game Preview - Milwaukee at Pittsburgh

Tue Aug 6, 2019 7:05 PM EDT

The Milwaukee Brewers will be looking for a good balance of offense and pitching Tuesday in the second game of a series against the host Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Milwaukee had been thirsty for offense coming off four straight losses, but quenched that thirst with 13 hits Monday in a series-opening 9-7 win. The Brewers scored one more run Monday than they did in those four losses combined.

"It goes in stretches, and we'd been in a pretty bad stretch," Christian Yelich, who homered twice Monday, told Fox Sports Wisconsin. "So, hopefully, this is the start of something for us and we can get it turned around here."

But the second half of that score Monday represented some tense moments, as relievers Freddy Peralta and Josh Hader gave up four runs over the eighth and ninth innings to let the Pirates back in the game.

"The Pirates are a pretty scrappy club," Yelich said. "They never make it easy on you. They've got a lot of good players. We've had a few of those where it's come down to the wire here."

The Pirates have lost three straight and 13 of 15, so erasing deficits of five and four runs and making it a close game Monday only went so far in terms of buoying them.

"Things aren't going our way right now," said Bryan Reynolds, who did his part, going 3-for-5 with a homer Monday.

"It's tough. That's baseball. We're going to keep fighting. We'll get through it."

Tuesday, Milwaukee right-hander Chase Anderson (5-2, 3.73 ERA) is scheduled to start against Pittsburgh left-hander Steven Brault (3-1, 4.15).

Anderson has just one decision in his past seven starts, a win sandwiched between six no-decisions, but he has been Milwaukee's most consistent starter recently, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his past eight starts.

Thursday at Oakland, he gave up one run, on a home run, and two hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked three, but the Brewers wasted his quality start in a 5-3 loss.

He is 8-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 17 career starts against the Pirates, including 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in three starts this season.

Brault has been on the injured list since July 6 because of a left shoulder strain but is expected to be activated for the start after a rehab start Thursday at Triple-A Indianapolis that he called "not great," according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

In that rehab start, Brault allowed two runs and three hits in four-plus innings, with five walks and a wild pitch.

"Stuff was good, and I felt really good," he told the Tribune Review. "Pitching to hitters for the first time, command wasn't there. Getting a little jumpy, excited. Happens to everybody, right?"

Brault added that his shoulder "feels great."

Before he got hurt, Brault had become an effective starter after bouncing most of his career among the rotation, the bullpen and Indianapolis.

In his past seven starts, he has given up a combined eight earned runs and has a 2.04 ERA. In nine starts this year, he is 2-0 with a 3.35 ERA.

As it works out, this will be Brault's third straight major league start against Milwaukee, his last being the game he left because of the shoulder problem. In three appearances against the Brewers this season, Brault has given up four runs in 15 innings.

Overall, he is 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 14 career appearances, eight of them starts, against the Brewers.

--Field Level Media