Brewers vs. Diamondbacks Preview and Pick

The Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks begin the second halves of their seasons with a three-game series in the desert beginning Friday night at Chase Field.

Milwaukee battled in recent weeks just to get to a game over .500 last week, then dropped three of four games to the Cubs just before the All-Star break. The Brewers are tied for third place in the NL Central, six games back of the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.

Arizona won its’ last five games before the All-Star break, and while the D-Backs may be in last place in the NL West, they’re only five games behind the division-leading San Diego Padres.

Milwaukee owns one of the worst home/road discrepancies in the majors this season. The Brewers are nine games over .500 at home, but just 15-26 on the road.

Arizona is 19-23 at home this season.

Milwaukee took two of three games from the D-Backs in the first encounter between these two teams this season back in April. And the Brewers won the season series with Arizona last year four games to two.

Lefty Doug Davis (5-6, 4.95) goes to the mound for Milwaukee in Friday’s series opener. Davis has had his ups and downs this year, and has allowed 12 ER and 30 H+W in his last 17 IP. But the Brewers are 11-8 in Davis’ starts this year, the over/under also 11-8.

Davis has made two starts vs. Arizona this year and last, giving up 5 ER and 18 H+W in 12 innings of work.

The D-Backs will counter with Miguel Batista (8-5, 5.01) Friday. Batista has allowed 11 ER and 19 H+W in his last 20 IP. Arizona is 12-6 in Batista’s starts this year, the o/u 11-6.

This is Batista’s first start vs. the Brewers since 2001.

On Saturday, Chris Capuano (10-4, 3.21) will start for Milwaukee vs. Brandon Webb (9-3, 2.65) for Arizona. And on Sunday, Dave Bush (5-7, 4.34) will go for the Brew Crew, while Claudio Vargas (7-5, 4.91) will pitch for the Snakes.

Milwaukee owns a .330 team OBP this year, 5th-worst in the NL, and is averaging 4.6 runs per game.

Arizona owns a .336 team OBP, which is tied for 4th-best in the league, and is averaging 4.9 RPG.

The Brewers bullpen ranks 2nd-worst in the majors with a 5.20 ERA.

The D-Backs bullpen isn’t much better, ranking 7th-worst in the majors with a 4.78 ERA.

Milwaukee 3B Corey Koskie is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game; he suffered a concussion when falling to the ground trying to make a play in the field last week.

The o/u is 48-38 in Brewers games this year, 45-40 in D-Backs games, and 23-17 at Chase Field.

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The Ultimatecapper Pick: We like the Brewers tonight on the road.