The Tampa Bay Rays will have to figure out Brewers ace right-hander Brandon Woodruff on Wednesday afternoon to salvage a split of the two-game series in Milwaukee.
Left-hander Jeffrey Springs (4-3, 2.50 ERA) gets the nod for Tampa Bay against Woodruff (9-3, 3.49).
Milwaukee, which had lost six of seven, took the series opener 5-3 on Tuesday night behind five strong innings from Freddy Peralta, making his second start since coming off the injured list. Kolten Wong provided the key hit with a two-run double.
Peralta, sidelined from May 23 to Aug. 3 with a shoulder strain, allowed a single and two-run homer in five innings. He struck out four and walked none in a 65-pitch outing.
The Brewers got their first save since trading All-Star closer Josh Hader at the deadline as Matt Bush, a deadline acquisition from Texas, tossed a perfect ninth inning.
“That was a great inning. That’s as good as any as we’ve seen this year,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Just electric stuff, really good stuff.”
Reliever Taylor Rogers, acquired from San Diego in the Hader deal, was unavailable after getting a cortisone injection in his knee on Sunday, Counsell said.
“He’s trending in a good direction,” Counsell said. “He felt pretty good today, but not quite there yet.”
Since coming off the injured list, Woodruff is 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA in seven starts. In his last outing, Woodruff allowed three runs (two earned) in 6 1/3 innings but did not get a decision in a 5-4 loss at Pittsburgh.
“Command wasn’t good,” Woodruff said after his last start. “It was one of those days: Just felt like I couldn’t really get ahead, and they did a good job. They were putting some good at-bats together and just putting the ball in play.”
Woodruff is 2-0 with an 0.79 ERA in two career starts against Tampa Bay, both on the road.
Springs is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA over his last seven starts, striking out 38 and walking just six in 35 innings. He has never faced the Brewers.
In his last start, Springs gave up two unearned runs in six innings of a 6-2 win at Detroit, striking out six and walking none.
“I thought the fastball command was really crisp,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after Springs’ last outing. “His (velocity) was up a little bit, but the command was better than what we had seen maybe the two starts coming out of the break.”
Yandy Diaz had a two-run homer for the Rays on Tuesday; it was his third homer in 12 games after none in his previous 56 games. Jose Siri snapped an 0-for-12 skid with an RBI double for the Rays’ final run in the seventh — his first RBI since joining the Rays from Houston on Aug. 1.
After dropping the series opener at Milwaukee, the Rays are 7-10 since the All-Star break.
“Overall, I just feel like we didn’t play a very good game,” Cash said. “Yeah, we just didn’t play a good game.”
