Arizona (64-64) at Milwaukee (65-62)
When: Friday, August 23, 2019
Where: Miller Park,
Milwaukee, WI
Time: 8:10 ET | TV: FS AZ, FS Wisconsin
Opening Odds: Milwaukee -162/9.5
There are several teams still within striking distance of a National League wild card berth and two of those clubs will square-off this weekend in a key series at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Brewers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks starting on Friday and neither team can afford to get swept. Milwaukee was hanging around the NL Central race but the Cardinals and Cubs are slowly pulling away from the Brewers, who lost two out of three to both Washington and St. Louis on their six-game road trip to fall four back in the division and three back of the second wild card entering Thursday night’s action. Infielder Mike Moustakas has done his best to boost the Milwaukee offense by going 7-for-16 with four home runs and 11 RBI in the last four games of the 2-4 road trip. Arizona keeps hanging around and have some momentum coming to Miller Park by winning three of their last four to climb back to .500 and are 4.5 games out of a wild card. The Diamondbacks, who are 34-32 away from home, begin a five-game road trip on Friday and will then host the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games to end the month. The Brewers took three of four at Arizona right after the All-Star Break.
Pitchers: Diamondbacks – Merrill Kelly (9-12, 4.63 ERA) | Brewers – Jordan Lyles (7-8, 4.96)
Kelly is looking to carry some momentum after a solid start last time out after he got pummeled in his previous four turns. Kelly allowed four runs or more in four straight starts before limiting the San Francisco Giants to one run and six hits over 5.2 innings on Sunday to earn his ninth win. Kelly started the July 18th game at Milwaukee and surrendered one run and three hits across seven innings of a 5-1 loss.
Lyles is coming off his worst outing as a member of the Brewers when he allowed five runs and seven hits – two home runs – over four innings to the Nationals in that wild 15-14 Milwaukee victory last Saturday. He had allowed five runs total in his first three starts for Milwaukee after coming over from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. Lyles faced Arizona on April 24th and allowed five runs – four earned – in five innings while with the Pirates.
Milwaukee is not playing well enough to be a favorite of -145 here. The D’backs hit Lyles pretty good earlier this season and Kelly shut down the Brewers a month ago. Arizona is a decent road team and worth a shot as an underdog here.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free MLB Picks page for Friday. He is 114-79 +2293 units on the season after a 15-6 run!
Pick: Diamondbacks +135
BETTING TRENDS:
Diamondbacks are 12-4 in their last 16 games following an off day.
Diamondbacks are 1-4 in their last 5 after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game.
Diamondbacks are 1-4 in their last 5 games vs. a right-handed starter.
Diamondbacks are 1-5 in their last 6 vs. National League Central.
Diamondbacks are 2-7 in Kelly’s last 9 starts.
Diamondbacks are 2-7 in Kelly’s last 9 starts on grass.
Diamondbacks are 1-4 in Kelly’s last 5 road starts.
Diamondbacks are 1-4 in Kelly’s last 5 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Diamondbacks are 1-4 in Kelly’s last 5 starts after scoring 2 runs or less in their previous game.
Diamondbacks are 0-4 in Kelly’s last 4 starts with 4 days of rest.
Brewers are 4-0 in their last 4 home games vs. a right-handed starter.
Brewers are 36-16 in their last 52 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
Brewers are 2-5 in their last 7 during game 1 of a series.
Brewers are 4-10 in their last 14 Friday games.
Brewers are 2-8 in their last 10 games following an off day.
Over is 5-0 in Diamondbacks last 5 after scoring 2 runs or less in their previous game.
Under is 7-2-1 in Diamondbacks last 10 during game 1 of a series.
Over is 6-2 in Diamondbacks last 8 games following a loss.
Under is 5-2 in Diamondbacks last 7 Friday games.
Under is 5-2 in Diamondbacks last 7 when their opponent scores 5 runs or more in their previous game.
Over is 51-24-2 in Diamondbacks last 77 games following an off day.
Over is 4-1 in Kelly’s last 5 road starts.
Over is 4-1 in Kelly’s last 5 starts after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game.
Over is 3-1-1 in Kelly’s last 5 starts on grass.
Over is 3-1-1 in Kelly’s last 5 starts after scoring 2 runs or less in their previous game.
Over is 3-1-1 in Kelly’s last 5 starts overall.
Under is 5-2 in Kelly’s last 7 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Over is 6-1-1 in Brewers last 8 vs. National League West.
Over is 8-3-1 in Brewers last 12 games following an off day.
Over is 5-2 in Brewers last 7 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30.
Over is 7-3 in Brewers last 10 games vs. a right-handed starter.
Over is 18-8-1 in Brewers last 27 Friday games.
Over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
Under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Milwaukee.
Diamondbacks are 1-7 in the last 8 meetings.
Diamondbacks are 0-5 in the last 5 meetings in Milwaukee.
