The Milwaukee Brewers were scuffling for the first seven weeks of the season before winning 24 of their past 35 games.
The Brewers can continue their surge on Friday when they host the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series.
Jose Quintana (5-2, 2.98 ERA) is scheduled to start for Milwaukee while Colorado is expected to activate fellow left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-8, 5.13) from the 15-day injured list following back stiffness.
Quintana missed the last three weeks of May with a left shoulder impingement and will make his fifth start of June. He pitched six shutout innings at Minnesota on Saturday for his first victory since April 27.
Quintana only struck out one batter against the Twins but was happy with his approach to their lineup.
“For me, part of my game is changing speeds, trying to read swings,” he said. “But the approach is always the same — try to attack the zone.”
Quintana is 3-4 with a 5.40 ERA in 10 career games (nine starts) against the Rockies.
The Brewers’ recent success coincided with Christian Yelich’s resurgence at the plate. The former National League MVP was batting .184 after going 0-for-5 against Baltimore on May 21 before raising his average 80 points to .264.
Yelich is hitting .356 in June and has 15 home runs and 57 RBIs this season. He collected eight of those RBIs against Minnesota on June 20.
The Brewers posted their sixth win in seven outings with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. Jacob Misiorowski threw five shutout innings in his third major league start to outduel Pirates star Paul Skenes.
Freeland’s back problem flared up before a bullpen session following his most recent start, June 11 against San Francisco. Before the IL stint he had three straight quality starts and has been pitching well after a tough beginning to the season.
Freeland is 5-3 with a 2.65 ERA in nine career starts against Milwaukee.
He will need a good outing to snap Colorado’s three-game skid.
The Rockies are 18-63 at the halfway point of the season and are on pace to lose 126 games. That would eclipse the modern era record for losses of 121, set by the 2024 Chicago White Sox.
They are better on the road (10-31) than at home (8-32).
Colorado is 11-30 since interim manager Warren Schaeffer took over for Bud Black on May 11. Schaeffer, however, sees positives despite the poor record.
“I feel progress is being made on a consistent basis,” he said after a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. “We just got done playing the world champs, and we gave them a fight. We didn’t get any wins out of it but we’re playing better baseball. I think everyone in that (clubhouse) knows it and feels it, just a matter of keep pushing forward. That’s all.”
–Field Level Media
