Pitching Duel Unfolds as Brewers and Guardians Keep Fans Guessing with Scoreless Standoff

Ever have one of those days on the diamond where you don’t exactly win everything, but you sure as heck don’t lose either? That was me yesterday — a neat little blend of victory and a push, which, let’s be honest, feels like sneaking home with the bases loaded. Riding that mini-no loss streak into tonight’s showdown between the Brewers and Guardians, I can’t help but wonder: can these two understated teams keep flying under the radar while quietly carving out some serious relevance? The Brewers aren’t hitting the fireworks this season, but their knack for manufacturing runs and the shaky-but-promise-tinged arm of Quinn Priester might just keep them lurking in Wild Card conversations. Meanwhile, the Guardians, with their own brand of steady grit and Logan Allen on the mound, are facing a challenge — the division’s suddenly looking like an overcrowded dance floor. Yesterday’s scoreless duel makes me lean toward betting on the under through five innings. Both bullpens? Yeah, I’m a bit skeptical, but value like this doesn’t knock on the door every day. Curious to see if this quiet competitiveness turns into a slam-dunk or a sneaky under? Let’s dive in and break it all down. LEARN MORE.

Brewers vs. Guardians, 6:10 ET

It was a decent enough day on the diamond yesterday as both plays that I had were not losers. That seems like an odd way to say that I picked some winners, and that’s because I didn’t pick two winners. I won the game between the Diamondbacks and the Giants, but I also pushed in the game with the Mets and Pirates as the game was tied after five innings. Today we look to ride this mini-no loss streak to another couple of games with the first one here between the Brewers and the Guardians.

The Brewers are not a team that you’re expecting to be amazing this season, but they are doing just enough to at least stay in the thick of things at the moment. When the year is all said and done, I fully expect them to at least be in contention for a Wild Card, if not battling for the division crown once again. The team is only hitting .233 for the season, but they have manufactured 184 runs without a ton of homers as they sit with just 35. The pitching staff, outside of Freddy Peralta has been just okay. Today’s starter, Quinn Priester, bounced from Pittsburgh where he was drafted, to the Red Sox, now to the Brewers. In his good games, he looks like he will be a serviceable starter for a long time. In his bad games, it looks like he could benefit from some more minor league time to work on certain things. For the season, he has allowed 16 earned runs, but 12 of those came in two games. He has 19 of his 28.1 innings where he has thrown really solid baseball. Guardians hitters haven’t seen much of him, but he has allowed five hits in 12 at-bats against them. 

The Guardians and the Brewers kind of remind me of each other. They both are solid teams that kind of fly under the radar. There isn’t much to be excited about with either of them during the offseason as neither team is truly a destination for free agents. However, they tend to find players that make the team better and are just good baseball players. This year the Guardians have a bit more of a challenge with the Tigers and Royals being competent and the Twins potentially even being in the mix as well. Logan Allen will get the ball today, looking to help the Guardians get the second game of this matchup. Allen has also been decent for Cleveland. He has allowed 17 earned runs in 35 innings, but if you remove one start against the Red Sox, he has allowed just 10 earned runs in 31 innings this year. The Brewers have never faced Allen so they may not be as familiar with him the first couple of times through the lineup. 

Yesterday, the Guardians were able to keep the Brewers bats at-bay and kept them off the scoreboard. I don’t expect that to happen here, but I don’t think the line is that far off, either. I like the way Priester has thrown the ball aside from his two poor starts, but you can say the same about Allen. I think the right play here is to take the under through five innings. I don’t really trust either bullpen, but I think we are getting a bit of value on the under through five. 

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