Reds vs. Brewers: Pitching preview, prediction, and more

Previewing the pitching matchups: Reds vs. Brewers.

Tonight’s opener pits Sonny Gray (1-4 3.64 ERA) against Adrian Houser (3-5 3.86 ERA) of the Brewers. After tossing six shutout innings versus the Washington Nationals, Sonny Gray had another frustrating outing his last time on the mound.

Allowing six hits, including a pair of home runs, in just 4.2 frames, Gray took the loss in the 14-run defeat to the Phillies in the team’s most recent appearance at GABP. Unfortunately, consistency has been an issue all season for the Reds’ right-hander.

In his nine starts, he’s allowed two runs or less five times, yet he’s failed to complete five innings an alarming four times.  Keeping the ball in the yard will be paramount for Gray. The Milwaukee offense swings for the fences, and Gray’s 1.5 HR/9 and 21.1% flyball rates are career highs for the Vanderbilt alum.

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Speaking of hitting home runs, don’t sleep on Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser at the plate. Twice this year, Houser has left the yard, and it’s completely mind-boggling. Entering this year, the Brewers right-hander had one hit in 22 career at-bats with 17 punchouts. Go figure.

After securing his first major-league victory his last time out, Vladimir Gutierrez (1-1 2.70 ERA) goes for win number two as he opposes the Brewers’ Brett Anderson (2-3 4.42 ERA) Wednesday night. Give Gutierrez a ton of credit; he showed an incredible amount of moxie on Friday night.

The Reds rookie allowed two runs on three hits during a difficult opening frame while allowing a walk, stolen base, and committing a balk.  From there, the right-hander was lights out. He failed to yield another hit at one point, retiring 10 Cardinals in a row before handing the game off to Tejay Antone following five strong innings.

Two facts the Reds have learned about Milwaukee left-hander Brett Anderson are he will throw strikes and give up the long ball.  Anderson has not issued a base on balls to the Reds over his last 11 innings; however, he’s surrendered three homers over that timeframe, including two in his May 22nd start at GABP.

Thursday’s matinee series finale will feature Luis Castillo (2-8 6.63 ERA) while Brewers manager Craig Counsell will counter with Freddy Peralta (6-1 2.25 ERA). Don’t call it a comeback just yet, but La Piedra looked like his old self in his last start.

Tossing six innings of three-hit one-run baseball, Castillo fanned five Redbirds earning his second victory of the season. It was just his third start in which he’s allowed two earned runs or fewer this season. Let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come.

Thursday will be an encore performance of a Castillo and Peralta matchup. The two right-handers faced each other on May 23rd at GABP, and neither had a particularly good day as La Piedra allowed five runs in as many innings, while Peralta failed to escape the fifth as he walked a season-high four hitters.